Frozen Emerald Eyes
by Prelude-to-Heartbreak
Summary: Discontinued, but adopted by my friend SidheWitch. She should have it up soon if it isn't already
1. Chapter 1

_I decided to try a crossover between Bleach and Harry Potter. Well, here ya goes! I hope you enjoy…_

_Btw… I don't own either! Though I wish I owned Toshirou-kun! But sadly, it's not to be. I'm not that imaginative when it comes to characters….. But anyways! Enjoy!_

"Why did we get saddled with you, freak!?" A purple faced man shook a small black haired infant. The child cried, being in pain and defenseless against the man. With one final shake the man dropped the small infant into the river below. The man then left in his car, uncaring of the child.

As the child became immersed in the icy cold of the river, his magic rushed to protect him. The strain of it trying to protect the small child's frail body bleached the infant's black hair a snowy white. Still, the magic desperately tried to protect the small one's life, but it was all for naught. In the dark of night, in the icy black waters of the winter river, the now white-haired infant died.

HP/B (All said in Japanese)

Hitsugaya Toshiro made his way towards the office of the So-taichou (A/N: not sure of the spelling. Correct me if I'm wrong please). He was immediately ushered in and he stood before the wooden desk silently. The So-taichou cleared his throat and started speaking. "We have recently come across some information regarding your past when you were still alive in the real world." Hitsugaya's only response was a slight widening of his emerald eyes. The So-taichou continued. "Apparently you were thrown into the Japanese Soul Society all the way from England. You were also thrown into the past. Your death must have been traumatic for your Reiatsu to have reacted in such a way.

Also, we came across you birth name, Potter Harry. You were apparently famous in England's Wizarding World. Wizards, as you know, are humans who are able to access their Reiatsu. They call it magic. Now, the Wizards who knew you as Potter Harry do not know that you have died. In fact, if you hadn't, in the real world you would be 11. This is the age that the children go to schools to learn how to control their 'magic'. You have a mission to go to England for an extended period of time and learn how the wizards operate since you will be able to easily blend in." Hitsugaya nodded to show his understanding. The So-taichou held out a small jar that looked to be filled with little pills. "These are Ageing Pills developed by the 12th division. They will age you at the rate of a real world human until you physically look 17. You will then be stuck looking 17 for the duration of the time it would have taken in Soul Society to age to physically 17. Do you understand?" Hitsugaya nodded. "Very good. All of your school supplies have been purchased and are waiting for you in your quarters. You will take a Gate into the real world tomorrow morning. Urahara has a gigai waiting for your use at the train station that will take you to Hogwarts, the school you will be attending. You are dismissed."

Hitsugaya bowed and left.

HP/B (All said in English unless specified otherwise)

The carriage of the train gently swayed back and forth. Hitsugaya stared out the window, bored. He looked up, however, when the compartment door opened up. An 11 year old, orange haired boy stepped in. "Can I sit with you, Toshiro?"

Hitsugaya's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why did this boy know his name? Then it clicked. "Kurosaki!? What the hell are you doing here?"

The boy raised an eyebrow at the white-haired taichou. "Didn't the So-taichou tell you I was coming with?"

Hitsugaya snapped, "No, he didn't. And call me Potter at Hogwarts. That's my name here. Harry Potter. By the way, did the 12th Division give you something to look younger?"

The orange haired boy scowled. "Yeah, shut up."

Hitsugaya smirked slightly before sobering. "Kurosaki, why are you here?"

The orange haired boy scowled more and crossed his arms. He muttered, "They thought it would help my Reiatsu control. And for some backup for you, but mostly the Reiatsu control."

Hitsugaya smirked again and turned his gaze back outside. "I suppose I will have to teach you kido won't I?"

Ichigo looked over at him. "Yeah. I'm not happy about it either."

The two Shinigami passed the train ride in relative silence. That didn't bother Hitsugaya. In fact, he was happy it was that way. It meant that Kurosaki was keeping quiet, and no one came in to disturb him. An hour of uninterrupted thoughts, Hitsugaya looked from the window to see Kurosaki stretched out on the seat, sleeping. His permanent scowl seemed to have eased.

Hitsugaya looked away and rubbed the scar on his forehead. It had been itching lately. Dropping his hand, he pulled out a book from the bag on the seat next to him. He might as well start reading his text books. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do.

When the train finally stopped, Hitsugaya woke Kurosaki. They quickly pulled on their robes, both frowning in distaste at them, and then followed the masses off the train. As they reached the platform, a massive figure approached. "Firs' years ov'r here! Firs' years!"

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow and made his way over to the giant man. Kurosaki followed behind him. They soon reached the man and stood nearby, waiting for the other first years to assemble. Hitsugaya watched the surrounding wizards in disinterest.

When all the first years had eventually made their way over to their apparent guide, the giant man lead them all from the station and towards a lake. He gestured to the boats lined up in the sand. "No more than four to a boat!"

The first years piled into the boats slowly. Hitsugaya frowned in distrust at the rickety boat. How safe was that thing? Kurosaki pushed past him and clambered into the boat. Hitsugaya muttered, "Baka," and climbed in after him. Two other boys entered their boat after them. Kurosaki ignored them and 

stared up at the sky. Hitsugaya leaned against the side of the boat and crossed his arms. His eyebrow twitched at the stares he was receiving from the two idiots. "What do you want, gaki?"

Both boys frowned at the unknown word before the red haired boy spoke. "What's with your hair? It's white."

Ichigo looked over at that comment. He winced at the taichou's expression. It had become quite frosty. Well, more frosty than usual that is. Perhaps it was a good thing that the taichou was in a gigai. He wouldn't be drawing Hyourinmaru anytime soon. It was the baka redhead's lucky day.

Hitsugaya didn't even dignify the question with a response. Instead, he ignored the stares of the two boys for the rest of the trip across the lake.

When Hogwarts came in sight, Hitsugaya had to admit that he was pretty impressed. The sight was quite impressive, but even more so was the massive Reiatsu coming from the structure itself. He glanced over at Kurosaki to see the boy gaping. So, he could detect the Reiatsu as well. Maybe he wasn't a complete lost case after all. He then glanced over at the other two boys. They, too, were staring at the castle, but as far as he could tell it was because of the sight and not that they had sensed the Reiatsu, or what they called 'magic'. Well, at least they had stopped staring.

When they finally entered the castle, they were all lead to a small chamber by what Hitsugaya supposed was the Great Hall. Striding into the room, he picked a small corner near the back of the room to lean against the wall. Kurosaki eventually wandered over to him and leaned against the wall close to him. "Careful, Kurosaki, you're acting like a lost puppy."

The by scowled but didn't grace the taichou with a reply. Suddenly, through the wall drifted several white ghosts. Hitsugaya's eyes widened and he pushed off from the wall. Kurosaki did the same. Around them, several children screamed in fright.

The ghosts seemed to be having a conversation. It broke off, however, when they noticed the children. They seemed to greet them all happily. Hitsugaya slowly approached them. Something was off here. Kurosaki followed behind him. When they reached the ghosts, Hitsugaya stood there studying them until they noticed him. When they did, he questioned them in a voice that only Kurosaki could hear apart from the ghosts. "Where are your soul chains?"

The ghosts stared at him in surprise. "Soul chains? We don't know. They disappeared long ago."

Hitsugaya's eyes widened and he could hear Kurosaki make a strangled noise from beside him. With a tight voice, Hitsugaya asked his next question. "Exactly how long have you been dead?"

One ghost piped up. "I've been dead for over 500 years."

Ichigo started sputtering and snuck a glance at the equally surprised taichou. Five hundred years?! How did they stay ghosts that long without becoming hollows?! He opened his mouth to say something, who 

knows what, when he was interrupted. The stern teacher who had met them at the door of the castle walked into the chamber. She led them into the Great Hall.

They were lead up the aisle between two tables towards the front of the Hall. There stood a stool with a raggedy had atop. Ichigo stared at it in confusion. What in the hell was that thing for?

One song later, which had Ichigo nearly scared out of wits at a talking hat and the stern teacher opened a scroll and started listing off names. One by one they were sorted into the four houses. Ichigo was sorted into Gryffindor.

Hitsugaya stood there bored. Finally, after what seemed like a very long time, Harry Potter was called. He still had to get used to that name. He was Hitsugaya Toshirou not Harry Potter. Too bad he couldn't get the wizards to call him by what he considered to be his true name. He made his way up to the Sorting Hat, ignoring the whispers about his hair and his name. Placing the Hat on his head, he waited to be sorted.

'Well, well, well. What have we here? A Shinigami, huh? Well, aren't you an interesting kid?' Hitsugaya quelled the urge to rip the Hat off his head and instead settled for twitching eyebrow. He was not a kid damnit! The Hat chuckled. 'No, you are not. Now where to place you? You could fit anywhere. A genius that the Ravens would love to have, though you do not learn for the sake of learning alone. Also brave like the Lions would want, though not recklessly so. Loyal, but only to those who have gained your trust. Cunning and ambitious, but not power hungry like the Snakes are apt to be now. Salazar would not approve of his house. But, where to put you?'

Hitsugaya scowled. 'Just sort me, you damn hat, so you can get out of my head!'

The Hat chuckled. 'So pushy. Irate are you right now?'

A new voice entered the conversation. 'Just sort him, Hat. The stares are putting him on edge.'

The Hat sighed. 'Very well. It shall be…' "SLYTHERIN!"

Hitsugaya pulled off the Hat and thanked Hyourinmaru for speeding up the Hat's decision. He, then, made his way over to his new table in a dead silence. Taking a spot at the table he didn't even look to the front as he spoke into the silence. "Are you going to continue with the Sorting or not? I'm sure everyone wants to eat sometime in the next year."

At this, the Hall erupted into murmurs that Hitsugaya, once again, ignored. He leaned his elbows on the table and waited for the boredom to be over. He could tell that the following year was going to be quite interesting. He could only hope that he could survive the idiocy of his fellow students.

_This idea kinda just popped into my head and I just couldn't pass it up. I think the wizarding world is in for a rude wakeup call when it comes to their savior. And, I couldn't resist having the opportunity to make Whitey-chan look 17 (eventually... when they get to 7__th__ year.)! Maybe he will finally be tall! But anyways, what do you all think of this idea? Should I continue?_

_Oh, and also, I have a plan of future slash between Ichigo and Whitey-chan. But, we'll see what happens, ne?_


	2. Chapter 2

_The next chapter of Frozen Emerald Eyes. And, poor Whitey-chan… I hope he can survive the next seven years of Hogwarts._

**Chapter 2**

Hitsugaya slowly made his way towards the Headmaster's office. After the Feast had been finished, the Prefects had led them to the dungeon where their dorm was. They had then received a talk from their Head of House, one Severus Snape. After his little speech, Snape-sensei had approached him and said that the Headmaster wanted to see him. The man had then proceeded to lead him through Hogwarts towards the Headmaster's office.

Hitsugaya broke out of his musings when they halted in front of a large gargoyle. To Hitsugaya's immense shock, it leant forward towards him. In an instinctive move, he leapt back and reached for Hyourinmaru, forgetting he was in a gigai. When his hand grasped empty air, he let it drop to his side and he questioned the professor without taking his wary gaze off the stone monstrosity. "What is that thing, Snape-sensei?"

"It's a statue, Potter. Surely, even you could tell what it was."

"Well, pardon me if where I come from we seem to be lacking in statues that can move by themselves."

The sour man scowled and then muttered a word. The gargoyle bowed and moved out of the way, revealing a moving staircase. Hitsugaya followed the man onto the staircase. They soon reached the top of the stairs where they entered through the door into the Headmaster's office.

Hitsugaya moved to stand in front of the giant oak desk. He noted the slight resemblance between the Headmaster and the So-taichou. He stood there silently waiting for Dumbledore to speak. The door opened up and he turned his head to see who else had been summoned. Bright orange hair met him. So Kurosaki was also summoned here, but why?

The teen turned 11 year old took his place next to Hitsugaya. The two stood motionless, waiting for Dumbledore. The man smiled. "Take a seat, my boys. Care for a lemon drop? Or tea, perhaps?"

Hitsugaya declined, "I'm fine standing, sir. What did you want with us?"

The old man nodded in acceptance. "Very well. And that is a very unusual accent you have, Mr. Potter. I was under the impression that you were supposed to be with your relatives here in England."

"Forgive me, but I was under the impression that I had no living relatives after my parents died."

The bearded man frowned. "Where did you grow up then, Harry? Who raised you?"

Hitsugaya paused. "Please call me by my last name, Headmaster. I never said that you could call me by my given name. As for your question, I was raised in Japan by an old woman alongside her granddaughter."

Kurosaki took the chance to speak up. "Why did you call me here if you only wanted to talk to Harry about where he grew up?"

Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched. "That's Potter to you, Kurosaki."

The orange haired boy snorted. "Whatever."

Dumbledore cleared his throat to get the two boys' attentions. "I did want to talk to Mr. Potter about his past, but the other reason he is here, and you as well, Mr. Kurosaki, is that when you set foot into this school, I noticed that you both had extremely high levels of magic. We wanted to take some precautionary methods if necessary."

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed and he bowed. "If that is all then we will be leaving. I have my magic under excellent control, Headmaster, and I will help Kurosaki control his. We will not need your precautionary methods."

Hitsugaya turned to leave and Kurosaki followed behind him. He was almost to the door when Dumbledore stood up. "Wait. Where did you learn to control your magic? I want to make sure it wasn't a dark-"

Hitsugaya interrupted him. "I can assure you that it wasn't through dark or evil means that I learned to control my power. That's all you need to know. Goodnight, Dumbledore-sensei."

Taking a swift departure, Hitsugaya made the decision to roam the school. He was used to getting little sleep at night, having to deal with Hollows and paperwork. He was not yet sleepy and did not wish to return to his dorm quite yet.

Ichigo fell into step beside the diminutive taichou. He studied him thoughtfully. So this was where Toshirou was originally from. Though, it was odd that Toshirou was a lot older than everyone here thought him to be. It was a strange feeling, knowing that Toshirou was a lot older than he looked. It must suck being stuck in a young body for so long. The 12th division had given the taichou some pills, though, to make him age the same as if he was still human. That thought brought him to another. Toshirou was cute in a mature little kid kind of way, if that made any sense at all. Ichigo wondered how Toshirou would look being physically 17. Would he be taller? Would he change his hair? Toshirou interrupted his thoughts. "What do you want, Kurosaki?"

Kurosaki shrugged and, switching to Japanese, said, _"I was only wondering where we would train. And, what we would do about these ghosts here."_

Knowing that Kurosaki couldn't see his face, he let a look of disbelief flash over his features. Kurosaki had been staring at him for too long to be thinking about training and ghosts. But, he did bring up some interesting topics. _"We may be able to find an unused classroom to train in or, if that doesn't work, then we can train in the Forbidden Forest. As for the ghosts, we can't perform a Konsou without attracting the attentions of the school. The ghosts have been around for too long. I have a theory that its that _

_concentration of all this Reiatsu that is effecting the ghosts. I'm not sure, however, and I will mention it in my report to the So-taichou."_

"_With such a large amount of Reiatsu, I wonder how many Hollows appear here, and how the wizards deal with them."_

"_There are other Soul Societies, Kurosaki."_

The orange haired boy scowled but said nothing. Of that, Hitsugaya was thankful. The two roamed the hallways in silence after that, taking note of where the different classes were. Eventually, Kurosaki left Hitsugaya's side when they passed the Gryffindor dormitories. Hitsugaya was left to wander alone.

Eventually, he made his way out onto the grounds. Roaming the grounds, he spotted a cloaked figure in the distance. Not wanting to get caught roaming the grounds on the first day of being here, he decided to return to the castle. He didn't feel up to tailing the figure or getting into a confrontation.

With a few hours from dawn, Hitsugaya finally decided it was time to visit his dormitory and go to bed.

B/HP

The next morning, he was up early. Slowly he made his way towards the Great Hall. He stared at the portraits lining the corridors. How the humans had managed to make pictures _move_ was beyond him. He also suspected that the suits of armour could also move. It was almost like a zanpaktou's ability or some sort of kidou, but everyone could do it and it was more advanced. Some of the spells that he had heard mentioned were very complex. Twelfth division would be ecstatic to be here, Hitsugaya thought wryly. But pausing, a new thought occurred to him. Perhaps it was that the Shinigami's Reiatsu had the same potential as a Wizard's, but they had developed their Reiatsu based on the Shinigami's duty to defeat Hollows. Now there was an interesting thought.

Hitsugaya broke from his thoughts when he entered the Great Hall. The room was mostly void of any students except for a few bleary eyed older years. A few teachers were present at the Head Table, but most were missing. Hitsugaya studied the professors who were there. One was his Head of House, a sour and greasy haired man with an acute hatred of the surname Potter as it seemed. The next was a small man who needed the aide of pillows to see above the table. Hitsugaya wondered what subject the man taught.

The final man was of a twitchy sort. A purple turban was wrapped around his head and he seemed to be muttering to himself. Frowning, Hitsugaya studied him closer. There was something off about the man. It was almost as if there were two Reiatsu sources in the man. That should be impossible for a human. He could also see a shadowy chain just protruding from beneath the man's turban. Making a mental note to further investigate, he placed some fruit on his plate and watched the students as they slowly drifted it.

Eventually, when all the students had made into the Hall, along with the rest of the teachers, the Head of Houses handed out their schedules. Kurosaki immediately stood up upon receiving his and walked 

towards him. There were whispers as he plopped into an empty seat next to Hitsugaya. "What classes do you have, Harry?"

"That's Potter to you, Kurosaki."

Before Ichigo could respond, a bleach blonde boy from farther down the Slytherin table interrupted. "Hey! Gryffindors aren't supposed to be at the Slytherin table! So move it, Gryffindor!"

Ichigo looked over at the boy. "Did the bleach affect your brains? Or did you have any to begin with? Friends can sit with friends can't they?" He turned back to Toshirou, ignoring the now sputtering blond boy. Toshirou had an odd look on his face before handing over his schedule to show him and, then, returning to his breakfast.

Ichigo looked it over. "Looks like we got some classes together, Harry. Transfiguration is the first one, and later we have Potions together and Defense Against the Dark Arts."

Hitsugaya took back his sheet. "Get your books then. I'll see you in Transfiguration then." He stood up and started towards the door. Pausing ever so slightly, he said, "Don't be late, Kurosaki."

Ichigo scowled and mumbled under his breath about, "Baka taichou." Those around him cold only give him looks of curiosity or other strange looks.

_Well, there's that chapter! Next chapter is the classes! Oh how whitey-chan survive?_

_I'm gunna try to update Dark Phantom before this one so it may be a little while. I'm in college now so I will probably have little time to write stories. I do promise to try though!_


	3. Chapter 3

_The next installment! Enjoy and please review!_

**Chapter 3**

Hitsugaya sat bored in the Transfiguration classroom. He had been one of the first ones there. The only humans in the room were a few other students. The Professor wasn't even in the room, but he could fell the strong Reiatsu of the cat that was sitting on the desk at the front. He didn't think it was an ordinary cat.

Finally, several minutes later, the bell rang signaling the beginning of class. It was at this moment that Kurosaki plopped down in the seat next to him. "I thought I told you not to be late, Kurosaki."

"Oi! I wasn't late!"

"Close enough."

Kurosaki growled and crossed his arms, but otherwise didn't say anything. Hitsugaya ignored him. Was the Professor going to teach them or not? He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. If all the Professors were going to do this, then it was going to be a waste of his time. If the Professor wasn't going to teach them soon, then he was just going to leave and do his studying on his own.

Five minutes later, the students were noticeably restless, and Kurosaki had his head lying on his desk. When Hitsugaya was about to get up and leave, two student s came barreling into the room. One was a red haired boy and the other was a sandy haired boy who was noticeably clumsy. The red haired boy noticed that the Professor was not there and grinned. "Looks like we got here before the Professor, Neville. We won't get into trouble!"

It was at this moment that the cat leaped off the desk and transformed midair into their Professor. She opened her mouth to no doubt give them a stern lecture, but was interrupted by a crash and a loud yell. Hitsugaya looked down at Kurosaki, who was now on the floor, his hands covering his eyes. "What are you doing, Kurosaki? You are making a scene."

"She has clothes on right?"

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. "I don't think she would have done that in front of us students if she would end up naked, baka."

Kurosaki glared up at him. "Well, sorry if my only experiences with cats turning into people was with Yoriuchi."

Hitsugaya smirked down at him. "Is the _great_ Kurosaki Ichigo a prude? One would have thought that one such as you would have enjoyed something like that."

Kurosaki immediately jumped to his feet. "What exactly are you implying, _Whitey-chan_!?"

A vein in Hitsugaya's forehead visibly throbbed and the temperature in the classroom dropped several degrees. He opened his mouth to respond to Kurosaki when he was interrupted by the Professor. "Five 

point s from Slytherin and Gryffindor for that scene. Be lucky I'm not giving you two a detention. As for you, Mr. Weasley, Mr. Longbottom, I suggest you arrive to class on time. Detention for both of you. See me after class."

Ichigo righted his chair and sat down with a thump. He glared at Hitsugaya but the Taichou ignored him. He crossed his arms and turned his attention to the teacher. They would be turning matches into needles? What the hell? Who needed a spell like that? Well, maybe besides Ishida…

Hitsugaya stared down at the match. A needle… of all things. He waved his wand and muttered the spell they were supposed to use. He watched as it turned to silver and sharpened. A moment later and it was a perfect needle. He picked it up to make sure it really was metal. It was. He dropped it and pulled out a potions text book. The class was pointless.

B/HP

One boring class later, Hitsugaya stood up and gathered his materials together. Ignoring the substitute Shinigami behind him, he walked purposely out the door and down towards the dungeons. After Potions he had History of Magic. Thankfully, that was _without_ the irritating Kurosaki.

His permanent frosty look on his face, Hitsugaya strode down the hallway. Kurosaki didn't seem to get the fact that he wanted to be left alone, as he called after him. "Harry! Wait up!" One of Hitsugaya's eyebrows twitched. So help him when they trained together, Hitsugaya was going to show his displeasure with the gaki.

Later, upon entering the Potions classroom, Hitsugaya sat in one of the last rows. To his ire, Kurosaki plopped down in the chair next to him. As the other students wandered in, Hitsugaya noticed that the two Houses sat on two different sides of the room. In Transfiguration, Slytherin and Gryffindor had been forced to sit together. In here, however, this apparently was not going to be the case. So Kurosaki ended up in the middle of all Slytherin students.

When all the students were seated, the door flew open with a bang and their professor swooped in. He immediately began roll call. The students sat tensely in their seats, barely daring to breath. At least the Gryffindor students were. The Slytherins were slightly more relaxed, the professor being their head of House. He paused at Hitsugaya's English name. "Harry Potter. Our new… celebrity. Perhaps you can tell me what you get when you add asp venom to an infusion of wolfsbane and doxy wings (a/n: I'm totally making this up if you hadn't noticed)?"

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. That wasn't in the first year text. "I do not know, Snape-sensei."

The Professor smirked. "Perhaps I overestimated you, Mr. Potter, managing to get into Slytherin and all. Maybe whatever bleach you use on your hair has killed one too many brain cells."

Ichigo paled and pulled away from the white-haired Shinigami. For whatever reason, he could get away with goading the Taichou. But, this was way past the line, and Toshirou was noticeably pissed off. The temperature dropped in the room and a vein throbbed at Toshirou's forehead.

"_Excuse me, Sensei_?" Ichigo winced. Not good.

Snape only raised an eyebrow. "When I saw you as a baby, Mr. Potter, you had black hair. For white hair you must have used bleach."

Ichigo abruptly stood and grabbed Toshirou's arm. He dragged him towards the door. Thinking quickly he spoke in a rush. "Touchy subject for him, Sensei! It was a… um… near death experience! The experience turned his hair white!"

With that, Ichigo dragged Toshirou from the classroom quickly and down the hallway. He searched desperately for a large empty room far away from everyone so the Taichou could vent. He eventually made it up to the seventh floor. He must have passed the same place three times, desperately praying for an empty room. Suddenly a door appeared. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, he threw open the door to reveal a room that, curiously, looked like a giant meadow. He needed a Hollow or something for the Taichou to fight. A Hollow appeared a moment after he finished the thought. He frowned; it didn't feel like a Hollow. Oh well. He grabbed his badge and pushed the Taichou out of his body. The Taichou scowled at him. "What do you think you are doing, Kurosaki? Why did you pull me here and force me out of my gigai? I demand an answer, Kurosaki!"

"Just fight the damn Hollow, or whatever it is. You obviously need to release some pent up frustration." He then muttered, "But leave it up to the meanest sensei to put you over."

Hiding his surprise that Kurosaki could actually have a logical thought, Hitsugaya drew Hyourinmaru from its sheath. He quickly defeated the Hollow looking thing, but he still needed to get his frustration out. Immediately, more non-Hollows appeared. Face still blank, he quickly defeated them as well.

Ichigo watched from the ground as the Taichou defeated more and more of the non-Hollow things. The Taichou really was a genius. He was an excellent fighter, and very graceful. Blinking at his line of thought, Ichigo shook his head clear of any more thoughts and only watched Toshirou.

Eventually, Toshirou landed in front of Ichigo, Hyourinmaru sheathed once again. Toshirou reentered his gigai and brushed past Ichigo.

"What time is it, Kurosaki?"

"You were out there for awhile. We missed lunch and a few classes. We have Defense Against the Dark Arts now."

Hitsugaya opened the door and strode out. Kurosaki followed behind at a more leisurely pace.

B/HP

When the pair walked into the DADA classroom, the students there turned to stare at them. Kurosaki scowled at them. "There something you want, gaki?"

The students immediately looked away. Hitsugaya strode to the back of the class and slipped into a seat. Kurosaki, once again, dropped into the seat next to him.

When the professor walked in, Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. That man definitely had two Reiatsu. Why was the second one coming from his head? Why did he have two? Hitsugaya resolved to keep an eye on the man, one Professor Quirrell.

B/HP

That night after classes, Snape approached Toshirou. Ichigo groan inwardly and scowled at his plate when he spotted the man coming closer towards them. The man stopped behind them. "Detention for the both of you, and 20 points from Gryffindor for leaving class early. Come to my office after dinner to serve your detention."

Ichigo's scowl deepened. That man infuriated him just because he hated Toshirou for apparently no reason at all. He blinked at that thought, but continued to scowl at his plate.

B/HP

Ichigo trudged behind Toshirou. He didn't want to spend the rest of the night in detention, but with the way Snape acted, he just might.

When the two entered the classroom, Snape was sitting at his desk going over an advanced potions book and taking notes. He looked up when they entered. He pointed over to a large pile of cauldrons and two brushes. "Scrub them clean. You cannot leave until you are done."

Scowling, Ichigo grabbed a brush and set to work, scrubbing furiously. Hitsugaya picked up the other brush and frowned at the pile of cauldrons in distaste before beginning.

After several minute of silence except for the sounds of the wire bristles against the sides of the cauldrons, Ichigo spoke to Toshirou in Japanese. "_When are we going to start training? That is one of the reasons I'm in the place_."

"_Next week. We will use that room we found._"

"_You mean that I found."_

"_I will not argue with you on this, Kurosaki. Get back to work."_

Grumbling, Ichigo set back to work on the slowly diminishing pile of dirty cauldrons.

B/HP

_Didn't quite turn out how I would've liked but whatever…_

_Now that I've gotten through the first day of classes, the time will go by a little faster._

_But, what did you all think of this? Review please! I'm review starved people!_


	4. Chapter 4

_The next installment is finally here! What's in store for Toshirou this chapter?_

_Disclaimer: As much as I'd like to… I don't own Bleach or Harry Potter_

_Please note that the chapters are going to go by faster now. I might end up doing it one year at a time until I get to a certain year (not that I'm going to tell you which)._

**Chapter 4**

"_Hadou number 4**, Byakurai!" **_There was a flash of white lightning, and a target on the opposite end of the room exploded. Hitsugaya lowered his arm and turned to Kurosaki. "That's the practical demonstration of the Hadou, Kurosaki. Do you know how to draw on your Reiatsu?"

Ichigo frowned. "I'm not sure really." He watched as Toshirou gave an irritated sigh.

"We've been going over this for weeks, Kurosaki. You have reached Bankai, right? Or was I right on thinking you were hopeless."

Ichigo gave a cry of indignation. "Oi! I have reached Bankai!"

Hitsugaya raised on eyebrow. "Then I don't see the problem, Kurosaki. You have to gather your Reiatsu when you reach Bankai. It's the same concept when you draw on your Reiatsu to cast a Hadou or Bakudou. You just don't draw on all of your Reiatsu like with the Bankai."

Ichigo nodded and closed his eyes. He knew Toshirou was watching him with a critical eye. He gritted his teeth and concentrated. He wasn't going to disappoint the diminutive Taichou.

Silently, Hitsugaya watched from the side. He could sense the substitute Shinigami's Reiatsu fluctuating. Suddenly his eyes widened. "Slowly, Kurosaki! Don't force it and not so much Reiatsu!"

Ichigo twitched and forced his Reiatsu down. He couldn't disappoint the Taichou. Carefully he tried to control his Reiatsu. Then, instinctively he knew that he had gathered enough Reiatsu. Letting it explode outwards at the target, he called out, "_Hadou number 4, __**Byakurai**__!"_

Hitsugaya watched as the streak of lightning destroyed the target. He nodded. "Better, Kurosaki, but I think you are going to have to learn to control your Reiatsu better before you can learn anymore Kidou."

Ichigo turned on the white haired Shinigami. "I thought that the Kidou where supposed to help with my control!"

Hitsugaya sent him a look. "No, Kurosaki, control comes before learning how to use Kidou."

"Why are you telling me this now? You could've told me this first instead of jumping right into teaching me Kidou!"

Hitsugaya was silent for a moment, just watching the fuming boy. "You aren't nearly as scary in an 11 year old body, Ichigo." Kurosaki blinked but Hitsugaya ignored it. "I wanted to see if you could figure it 

out on your own. Apparently you cannot. We'll start again tomorrow night, but for now go to bed, Kurosaki."

Hitsugaya then re-entered his gigai and left the room. He missed Ichigo's muttering of, "You can call me by my name you know, Toshirou."

B/HP

Hitsugaya sat in his seat in the Transfiguration classroom. Class was going to start soon, but he was the only one there. Twirling his wand between his fingertips he stared at the opposite wall. The professor with the turban, Quirrell, had been acting strange lately.

A few weeks ago, on Halloween, he had burst into the Great Hall, spouting about a troll in the dungeons. He had then promptly fainted. Hitsugaya was a little more suspicious of the man. Something had seemed off.

Hitsugaya suddenly scowled at the memory. When he had tried to follow the rest of his House, Kurosaki had grabbed his arm and pulled him off. He had struggled against the taller boy. The other's only response was to say that a girl had been in a bathroom crying all day and did not know about the troll.

**Flashback**

Hitsugaya glared at Kurosaki in irritation. "So you are going to play hero, Kurosaki? You don't even know if the troll will even make its way towards her."

"I have a bad feeling about the troll."

Hitsugaya sighed. "Fine. But let go of me Kurosaki!"

The two had then proceeded down to the first floor bathrooms. But before they got there their noses were assaulted by an awful stench. Covering his nose, Ichigo sputtered out, "What is that!?"

Also covering his nose, Hitsugaya paused. "The troll has left the dungeons. On your guard, Kurosaki."

The troll suddenly lumbered into view. It stopped and entered a room. Kurosaki's eyes widened. "That's the girls' bathroom! She's in there!" He sprinted towards the bathroom. Hitsugaya was not far behind.

The two skid into the bathroom to see the troll hovering over the frightened girl. It had its club raised. Kurosaki made to run forward but the Hitsugaya grabbed his arm. "Jumping at it isn't going to solve anything. Distract it to get it away from the girl. Quickly!"

Quickly drawing on his Reiatsu carefully, Ichigo cast a Byakurai at the troll. It hit the troll in the shoulder. Though it was weak and did little damage to the troll, it irritated it enough to draw its attention to the others figures in the room. It started lumbering to the two figures. Toshirou threw his hand out and called out, "_Bakudou number 9, __**Geki**__!"_

The troll stumbled and fell as a red band surrounded its body and restricted its movement. Hitsugaya then called out another Kidou. "_Hadou number 31, __**Shakkaho**_**u**!"

The troll's head was engulfed by a beam of fire. When the fire dissipated, the troll's head was revealed to be mostly burned away. The previously forgotten girl squeaked. Hitsugaya looked over at her. "Tell no one exactly what you just witnessed, understand."

She nodded. Toshirou turned to Ichigo. "We need to get out of here, Kurosaki. Let's go before we get caught and have to answer awkward questions."

**End Flashback**

Hitsugaya set down his wand. The next day after the troll incident he had spotted Snape with a noticeable limp. He frowned. He had wondered how could have Snape received that injury.

A few days later he and Kurosaki had decided to finally take a look at the off limits third floor. Behind the door had been revealed to be a dog of immense size and with three heads. A Cerberus. Hitsugaya looked up at the ceiling. Why would a school have a Cerberus of all things?

He sighed. December was just starting and he was still no closer to any answers, though he had a sneaking suspicion.

B/HP

Ichigo stared out the window. It was snowing. He wasn't even paying attention to class. Today was the last day before Christmas vacation. He glanced over to Toshirou. The white haired Taichou was seemingly paying attention to the lesson, but Ichigo could tell that he wasn't.

Ichigo sighed. He had been making progress with controlling his Reiatsu, but it wasn't enough to be able to learn any new Kidou spells. He just wasn't used to controlling Reiatsu. Zangetsu wasn't based on Kidou. But he was going to try his hardest so that the Toshirou would not be disappointed in him.

But that though brought up another thing. Since when did he care what the Taichou thought of him? He growled softly. The stress must be getting to him.

The bell suddenly rang signaling the end of class. Ichigo gathered his supplies and headed out the door. That was his last class of the day and they had supper soon. He had enough time to go drop off his bags at the dorm and then go to eat. He and Toshirou were going to train tonight after everyone was asleep.

He and the Taichou had decided to stay over the holidays. They would be a part of only a small amount of students staying.

Seeing the aforementioned white haired Shinigami up ahead, Ichigo hurried ahead to catch up with him.

B/HP

Hitsugaya kept a critical eye on Kurosaki's form. The boy was kneeling in the center of the room with his eyes closed. Hitsugaya could sense Kurosaki's Reiatsu fluctuating calmly in a controlled manor. He had to give it to the baka. The boy was actually improving. Slowly, but he was improving.

Hitsugaya held out a hand out in Kurosaki's direction. He cast a low level Kidou at Kurosaki looking to see how the boy would react. Predictably, the boy yelped and sprung to his feet to avoid the Kidou. "What the hell was that for, Toshirou?!"

"That's Hitsugaya-taichou to you, Kurosaki. You lost control of your Reiatsu."

"You cast a Kidou at me!"

"What's your point, Kurosaki?"

The orange haired boy drew back slightly, surprised. "I don't-"

"Exactly, baka. You need to learn how to always control your Reiatsu no matter what happens. Try again and be prepared. I expect you to eventually be able to fight me without losing control over your Reiatsu. Do you understand me, Kurosaki?"

The boy grit his teeth but nodded. With a forced calmness, he kneeled back down in the middle of the room. Again he started concentrating on his Reiatsu, though this time he did not close his eyes. Hitsugaya started circling Kurosaki. The substitute shinigami's Reiatsu was not as controlled as his last attempt due to his paranoia at being attacked again.

"Pathetic, Kurosaki, can't you do better than this?" Hitsugaya smirked as the boy twitched and his Reiatsu spiked. "Control yourself, Kurosaki. An enemy will goad you."

Scowling deeply, Ichigo again tried to control his Reiatsu. He needed to do this!

B/HP

Hitsugaya stared out at the snow covered landscape. Seeing the snow brought feelings of loneliness. Hyourinmaru was by no means permanently gone and he could have limited communication with the zanpaktou, but he still missed its comforting weight always strapped across his back. He just wasn't used to wearing a gigai. Being a Taichou, he generally did not go out on missions to the real world. Rubbing the invisible limiter on his shoulder blade, he mused on the emptiness that he felt on not having full access to his powers. He really wanted this mission to be over that's for sure.

Sighing, he stood up from the ledge he had been sitting on. Allotting himself a small smile, he gave one last look out the window before turning away and making his way towards he and Kurosaki's training room. Maybe he could get Kurosaki to train out on the grounds tonight? He kind of liked that idea. It was settled, then. They were training in the snow whether Kurosaki liked it or not.

B/HP

"_Hell no! Are you out of your mind!?"_

"_Calm down, Kurosaki. You're making a scene… again."_

"_No! It's cold out there! You may like the snow and cold, but not everyone does! I'll die from hypothermia!"_

Hitsugaya ground out as calmly as he could. _"You will not die of hypothermia, Kurosaki. Besides, it's an excellent chance to test your concentration. You are going to do it, Kurosaki. That's an order."_

Ichigo sat down in his seat and crossed his arms. Scowling at his plate he muttered about, "insane Taichou who go out of their way to torment me."

Hitsugaya returned to his table to eat his dinner.

Later that night, Hitsugaya had to drag Kurosaki to the Forbidden Forest. There, he threatened to tie the orange haired boy to a tree and leave him there if he didn't calm down and perform his exercises. Kurosaki gave him a venomous glare and sat down on a stump. He finally began to concentrate on his Reiatsu. As usual, Hitsugaya began to circle him, sending Kidou at random past Kurosaki.

Hitsugaya had to admit, the boy was doing better. He was able to keep control over his Reiatsu for several minutes before it started slipping out of his control. Suddenly, Hitsugaya paused. A small smirk donned his lips. His mind, genius as it may be, had a childish inspiration.

Hitsugaya continued to circle Kurosaki slowly, stopping occasionally. When he stopped behind the seated substitute Shinigami, Hitsugaya quickly bent down and gathered a bunch of snow in his hands. Quickly packing it into a ball, he lobbed it at the back of Kurosaki's head.

Not prepared for a snowball to the back of the head, Ichigo was thrown forward. He ended up face first in the snow with his ass in the air. Stunned, he could only lay there for a moment. Regaining his bearings, Ichigo surged to his feet and rounded on the white haired Taichou. "What the hell, Toshirou!?"

The white haired Shinigami only smirked. Seething, Ichigo bent down and packed together a snowball. He quickly straightened and through the large ball of snow at the smirking Taichou. Toshirou's smirk only widened as he used shunpo at the last second to get away from the projectile. He reappeared behind Ichigo and stuffed snow down the back of the boy's shihakushou before using shunpo again.

Ichigo yelped and stared at the taichou in shock. "Did you do what I think you just did?" Toshirou only raised an eyebrow. Ichigo decided to try to take a page out of the taichou's book. He used shunpo to get behind Toshirou, only to find the Taichou gone. Sensing the Taichou behind him he used shunpo. Quickly it degenerated into almost like tag. The two went back and forth trying to catch the other to stuff snow down the other's shihakushou or in their face.

When they finally stopped, Ichigo turned to Toshirou with a strange look on his face. "That was really out of character for you, Toshirou."

Hitsugaya looked away and gazed out on the snow. "Say anything about it, Kurosaki, to anyone and you will end up frozen."

"Whatever."

But Ichigo was glad that Toshirou was able to show a small portion of a different side to him. He hoped Toshirou could trust him more. In fact, Ichigo was determined to get Toshirou to smile at least once before they left Hogwarts. Toshirou's voice broke through his thoughts. He looked up to see the Taichou walking away.

"Oh, and Kurosaki? It's Hitsugaya-Taichou to you."

Knowing Toshirou couldn't see him, Ichigo only smiled.

B/HP

Sleeping peacefully, and dreaming of frozen watermelon and strawberries. Now, if he could only lie here forever… "HAAAAAAAARRY!!"

Hitsugaya bolted upright only to smash heads with another. He grabbed his head and gave his worst frosty glare at the offender who was also clutching his head. Hitsugaya growled out. "What the hell are you doing her, Kurosaki? And how the hell did you get into the Slytherin Dormitories?"

Ichigo froze, not quite literally, at the tone of voice Toshirou had used. He looked up slowly and nearly froze again. He wondered idly if the Taichou had upped the level of his icy glare. He gulped and held his hands up in surrender. "Well, it's Christmas, Har-" At the growl that issued from Toshirou's throat he hastily corrected himself. "I mean, Potter. I thought that we could unwrap gifts together. I already moved them all to the training room."

"What time is it, Kurosaki?"

Ichigo gulped nervously. "It's about 8 o'clock."

Toshirou gave an irritated sigh and glared at Ichigo again. "Fine. I will go along with your inane plan. At least you didn't get me up at _6 o'clock_."

Hitsugaya stood up from his bed and stretched his stiff muscles. He could feel Kurosaki's eyes on him. A vein in his forehead twitched. "It's impolite to stare, gaki."

Hitsugaya heard Kurosaki get up off the bed and walk towards the door. Hitsugaya pulled a shirt on over his bare chest and pulled on a pair of slippers. He then followed after Kurosaki.

B/HP

Ichigo had a slight blush on his cheeks as he made his way through the corridors up to the training room on the seventh floor. Even though he looked like an 11 year old boy, Toshirou had a very nice body unlike many other 11 year old boys. Ichigo could tell that the Taichou kept very good care of his body and trained with Hyourinmaru often. But enough with those thoughts… Ichigo sensed Toshirou draw closer to him. He stopped and turned to look at the white haired Taichou. "You're not mad at me are you?"

Hitsugaya just ignored him and brushed past the orange haired boy. The two silently made their way towards the training room. When they got there, Hitsugaya made note that the room had changed. There was a tree in the corner with a few gifts lying under it. Nearby was a fireplace with a roaring fire within it.

Ichigo grinned and plopped down next to the tree. "Come on, Toshirou! There's presents to be opened!"

Hitsugaya glared at the boy. "That's Hitsugaya-Taichou to you, Kurosaki."

"Don't you get tired of saying that?"

Hitsugaya paused as the question in surprise. "Of course I do, baka. But, someone insists on not calling me Hitsugaya-Taichou."

"Why?" Ichigo looked at the white haired boy in question.

Hitsugaya sighed irritably, "Why what, Kurosaki?"

"Why don't you like being called by your name, Toshirou? Do you not like your name or something?"

Hitsugaya couldn't stop the look of surprise the flitted across his face. "What are you talking about, Kurosaki? Hitsugaya-Taichou is a way of showing respect. I _am _a Taichou am I not?"

Ichigo picked up a present and started to idly play with the wrapping, not really pulling it off. "It is, respectful that is, but aren't friends allowed to forgo formalities. We are friends aren't we?"

Hitsugaya could only stare at the boy. He couldn't answer the question. Where they friends?

B/HP

Ichigo sat next to Toshirou at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall. It was the Christmas Feast, but he could only pick at his food. Toshirou had not answered his question from earlier. He saw the diminutive Taichou as his friend, but did the boy return his feelings?

An owl carrying a large package suddenly flew into the Hall. All there stared at it. What was it doing? Owls usually delivered mail during breakfast. The owl landed in front of a surprised Toshirou. Ichigo frowned. Who would have sent the Taichou mail? All of their friends had already sent their gifts.

Ichigo watched as the Taichou opened the letter first and read it. Ichigo swore the temperature noticeably dropped by several degrees. A vein in Toshirou's forehead popped and the Shinigami dropped the letter on the table. An infuriated cry rose from the small Taichou's lips in a growl, "_MATSUMOTO!"_

Ichigo gingerly picked up the letter, read it, and promptly winced.

_Dear Taichou,_

_Happy Christmas, Hitsugaya-Taichou! I've decided to drink an extra bottle of Sake to remember you since you can't be here this Christmas. Also, for a gift I've sent you all the extra paperwork that I couldn't get done this month. I figured you would miss having to do paperwork, so I sent it to you! Just send it Urahara-san and he'll get it back to me._

_Happy Christmas, Taichou!_

_Matsumoto Rangiku_

B/HP

The following weeks passed in a long dull manner. Nothing really happened besides having to do schoolwork and keep an eye on Quirrell. The most exciting thing to happen was when the groundskeeper was discovered to have a baby dragon in his hut. All in all it was fairly boring.

However, as the months passed, Hitsugaya had a growing uneasiness. That uneasiness finally came to a head when Hitsugaya learned that the Headmaster had left the school on apparently important business. He had a strong feeling it centered on Quirrell and the third floor.

So, that night Hitsugaya and Kurosaki went to the training room. There, Hitsugaya left his gigai and Kurosaki left his body. It was the easiest place to leave them without running the risk of someone coming across them. After they were done in the training room they left towards the third floor.

They paused outside the door that contained the Cerberus. "How are we supposed to get past it? I don't think they will be very happy if we just kill it."

"I overheard Hagrid saying that music will put the beast to sleep."

"Sing then, Kurosaki."

"Nani!? I'm not going to sing!"

"Do you want to get past it or not?"

"Fine, fine."

Entering the room, Kurosaki started to sing. While it wasn't a professional's voice, it wasn't bad either. Soon the giant beast fell asleep. When it did, Hitsugaya opened the trap door and jumped into the opening. Kurosaki followed behind him.

The two landed on something soft. It immediately started wrapping around them. Hitsugaya called out to Kurosaki. "Stop struggling! It's Devil's Snare."

"Well, how are we supposed to get out of its clutches?!"

Hitsugaya called out, "_Hadou Number31,__** Shakkahou**__!"_

The plant immediately released them as it was singed by the fire. Standing, the two made their way through a door. It closed behind them and they were greeted with the sight of many flying objects. Ichigo frowned. "Those look to be keys. They go to the other door don't they?"

Hitsugaya was silent for a moment. "Kurosaki, use Getsu Gatenshou (A/N: I think that's right. If not please tell me.) to break through the door."

Ichigo nodded and he approached the door some before drawing Zangetsu. Holding the zanpaktou in front of him, he called out and moved Zangetsu in a slashing motion. _"__**Getsu Gatenshou**__!"_

The door exploded out and the two Shinigami made their way through the smoking doorframe. The body of a troll was lying in the middle of the floor. Hitsugaya frowned. "Looks like Quirrell made it here before us. Hurry!"

They made their way over to the door quickly and went through. They encountered a giant chess set. As they tried to make their way over to the other side, they were stopped by the oversized chess pieces. Hitsugaya frowned. "We don't have time for this. _Souten Ni Zase, Hyourinmaru_!"

A wave of ice swept over the floor and froze the chess pieces to their spots. Returning Hyourinmaru to his sheathe, Hitsugaya entered the next room, Kurosaki not far behind. Once both had entered the room, however, two fires sprang up, one on each door. Irritated, Hitsugaya called forth Hyourinmaru once again. Freezing the fire ahead, though just barely seeing that it was a magical fire, the two Shinigami cautiously made their way through the door.

B/HP

Hitsugaya tightened his grip on Hyourinmaru. "So, it really was you, Quirrell."

The man with the purple turban spun around to face the two Shinigami. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Kurosaki, can't say that I'm surprised to see you here. I figured the Boy-Who-Lived wouldn't be able to keep his nose out of other's business. And, to bring your friend along with you…"

"What are you after, Quirrell?"

"Oh, don't tell me you don't know? Why come here if you are unprepared?"

Hitsugaya said nothing and raised Hyourinmaru. He spoke to Kurosaki in a low voice. "_Don't use any of your Zanpaktou's powers and don't use Bankai. Keep it a secret."_

Ichigo nodded and drew Zangetsu. Suddenly, a new voice echoed through the chamber. "**Let me speak to him, Quirrell.**"

Quirrell fidgeted. "You are strong enough, Master!"

"**I am strong enough for this.**"

Hitsugaya tightened his grip on Hyourinmaru as the professor started to unwind his turban. He whispered, "Voldemort," before murmuring to Ichigo. "_Break the glass of the mirror. I don't know what he's trying to get, whether it's the mirror itself or if the mirror is another test. Either way, if you break the mirror then he won't be able to get what he wants. I'll distract Quirrell."_

Ichigo nodded and adjusted his grip on Zangetsu. He nearly dropped it though at the sight that greeted him when Quirrell finished unwrapping the turban. Another face was on the back of the man's head. A few wispy and faint soul chain links seemed to hover just below the face's chin. It was an odd look to be sure.

Hitsugaya lunged at the dual headed man. In response, the man jumped out of the way and sent a green coloured spell at Hitsugaya. The Taichou cut through the spell with Hyourinmaru and continued towards the man. The man continued to fire spells at him, but Hitsugaya managed to dodge or deflect most of them. Only cutting spells seemed to get past his defense, so an array of small wounds appeared on his body, but he was none the worse for wear.

Ichigo, as soon as the professor was distracted, lunged at the mirror. Drawing back Zangetsu, he prepared for the impact of shattering glass. When he was near enough, he thrust the zanpaktou out and through the glass. Time seemed to stop as the tip of Zangetsu touched the surface of the mirror, but the moment passed and the glass shattered as the zanpaktou sliced through the mirror.

Startled by the shattering of glass, the professor whipped around to stare at the mirror with a look of horror of his face. Not a moment later, Hitsugaya was behind him, and the silvery blade of Hyourinmaru was thrust through his chest. Again time seemed to stand still as Quirrell stared down at his chest in surprise and horror. His blood sprayed out to splatter against the flagstones, and rivets sliding down the blade still protruding through his chest.

Ichigo shielded his face from the shattering glass, but still received many cuts along his arms, face, neck, and chest, his shihakushou ripped open by the shards of glass. When the shards fell to the floor, he turned to see the body of Quirrell slump to his knees. Toshirou, with eyes frostier than Ichigo had seen in a long time, slid Hyourinmaru from the dying man's body as the man finally sprawled to the ground, rising up a cloud of dust.

As Hitsugaya took a step back from the body, a cloud of Reiatsu rose from the dead man's body to form the vague outline of a man. It was not quite a ghost, but it wasn't a hollow either. Emitting a scream, it flew at Hitsugaya. Raising his sword, Hitsugaya watched with wide eyes as it flew right through him even though he was in his spirit form. Feeling the tainted Reiatsu force its way through him, he fell to his knees. He could vaguely hear Kurosaki yell out his name before he slumped to the ground unconscious. (A/N: No, I'm not trying to make him look weak, but how would you feel if you were a Shinigami and tainted Reiatsu flew _through_ you?)

B/HP

It was so white… so bright… where was he? "…Shirou…" What was that? Was someone calling for him? "Toshirou!" Kurosaki…

Struggling to open his eyes he murmured, "That's… Hitsugaya-Taichou… to you… Kurosaki."

Finally he opened his eyes to see Kurosaki hovering over him with a look of relief on his face. The boy immediately started talking as soon as he opened his eyes. "You worried me, Toshirou, when you collapsed like that!"

"Where am I, Kurosaki?"

"After you collapsed, I brought you back up to the training room. You've been out for a few hours."

"I see."

"What happened?"

"The foreign, tainted Reiatsu shocked my system when Voldemort forced his Reiatsu through my spirit form."

"Voldemort?"

"That thing. It wasn't quite a ghost; he's still managing to cling to life somehow."

"Oh."

Before closing his eyes, Hitsugaya mumbled out, "Eloquent as always, Kurosaki."

He missed Ichigo's faint smile.

B/HP

Hitsugaya sat on the Hogwarts' express watching the scenery as it flew by. Kurosaki was stretched out on the opposite seat, sleeping. It was the end of the year and Hitsugaya would be going back to Soul Society for the summer. Ichigo would be going home to Kankura town for the majority of the summer, but would spend the last few weeks in Soul Society.

Hitsugaya sighed as he mused over the events of the previous year. It was an interesting year to be sure and he wasn't sure if he would be able to survive the next six years if they were going to be just as _adventurous_. After the events on the third floor, Hitsugaya had been relieved to find that the Headmaster was none the wiser to who exactly was in the chamber along with Quirrell and Voldemort. A few days later had been the end of year feast and Slytherin was announced to have won the House Cup. Snape had looked smug, not that Hitsugaya cared who won. After the feast everybody went to bed. The next day they were all escorted to the train. In conclusion? Boring.

Hitsugaya shook Kurosaki awake as he felt the train slow down. They were apparently at the station. Urahara would be waiting to take Hitsugaya's gigai until he needed it at the end of summer. Hitsugaya was not looking forward to all the backed up paperwork. Damn Matsumoto. Still, though, he was glad to be getting back to Soul Society, at least for the summer.

B/HP

_Phew… finally done with that chapter! That took me awhile… so what did you guys think of that? Review please!_

_It's easy enough to click the review button… in fact, it's been deprived of attention… make it feel better? Review? Pleeeease? Make me feel loved?_


	5. Chapter 5

_Yay! I'm workin on my updates! Finally getting around to updating.. so here ya go! Hope you all enjoy!_

**Chapter 5 **

**(A/N: Japanese unless specified!!)**

The sun was shining. The birds were singing. The grass was green. All was peaceful. The 10th squad barracks were 10 degrees colder than normal…

Oh, boy. Not so peaceful. Shall we take a peak in the Taichou's office, the source of the sudden cooling off of just 10th squad?

Wonder who traumatized our dear Shirou-chan this time? Only a severe traumatizing could have resulted in such a drop in temperature.

"_MATSUMOTO!!"_

Oh, dear. He sounds more angry than traumatized. Let's see what happened shall we?

**~Flashback~**

Hitsugaya sighed quietly in relief. He could finally return to his office for the first time in months. He had just finished his meeting with the So-Taichou, having to give his report.

He wasn't looking forward to the bound-to-be-backed-up paperwork, but he was thankful to be out of his gigai and back in Soul Society.

Hitsugaya paused in front of his office and took a deep breath. Best be prepared for his desk to be overflowing with paperwork. Sliding the door open, he steeled himself. However, what met him was not what he had been expecting. It was much worse.

In his shock, he lost control of his emotions and his mouth dropped, his eyes widening. The sight would have been comical if it wasn't for the sudden drop in temperature and the visibly pulsing vein in his forehead.

"_MATSUMOTO!!"_

**~End Flashback~**

The well endowed fukutaichou appeared. She squealed and glomped her Taichou, smothering him with her *cough* endowment. Hitsugaya struggled to push her away. Finally, though, he succeeded. He glared at his fukutaichou. Speaking through clenched teeth, he ground out, "What. Is. The. Meaning. Behind. The. State. Of. My. Office?!"

Matsumoto shifted nervously. She really should have cleaned up a bit more before her Taichou had come back. Empty Sake bottles and unfinished paperwork littered the floor. Matsumoto quickly set about cleaning up the bottles and stacking the paperwork on the already over-stacked desk. "It's really not as bad as it looks, Taichou. I've kept up on most of the paperwork. All this is just this month's work."

Hitsugaya crossed his arms and waited for Matsumoto to finish cleaning the office. A half hour later and Matsumoto collapsed on the floor. Hitsugaya stalked over to his chair. "Get out, Matsumoto."

The red haired fukutaichou of 10th squad eagerly complied. When the door slid shut, Hitsugaya eyed the daunting mountain in front of him. An eye twitched as he pulled out a brush and ink.

Pulling a stack towards him, he took a deep breath. Dipping the brush into the ink, he prepared to sign his name.

"Shirou-chan!"

Hitsugaya's hand jerked, but he managed to stop himself from marking up the paper. He looked up in time to be glomped by a certain raven haired fukutaichou.

"I'm so glad you're back, Shirou-chan!"

Hitsugaya refrained from the reflex of pushing the girl away. Instead, he put down his brush and crossed his arms.

He let the girl latch onto him for several seconds before nudging her. "Get off."

The girl pouted. "Come with me, Shirou-chan?"

The white haired Taichou scowled. "I just got back. I have to do all this paperwork."

"Awwww, Shirou-chan…. Please?"

"No, Momo. And don't call me that infernal name. I'm a Taichou now. It's Hitsugaya-Taichou to you."

Momo pouted and turned away. "But Toshirou, I was planning on going and finding some watermelon."

Hitsugaya perked up slightly at that. Watermelon? He glanced over his pile of paperwork, though, and mentally groaned. "No, Momo. I really do need to do all this paperwork. Some other time, maybe."

Momo sighed. "Oh, alright. I'll see you later than, Toshirou. I really am glad that you are back!"

The girl waved at him and then ran out the door with a smile. Hitsugaya allowed himself a small smile. No matter how harsh he was to her or how much he teased her, he really did care for Momo. They had grown up together after all.

But enough of that. He picked up his brush once again and scowled at the piles of paperwork. Maybe he shouldn't have sent Matsumoto away. He could've made her do some of the paperwork. Though, he was grateful that she had at least most of it while he was gone. It would not have been pleasant to come back to an office that was a pool of paper.

B/HP

Hitsugaya put down his brush and rubbed his eyes tiredly. His first day back and he had to do paperwork. At least it was done now, until tomorrow that is.

Hitsugaya stood up and placed Hyourinmaru against his back. He sighed softly and looked out the window. The sun was setting on Soul Society, everything was bathed in reddish gold light. Hitsugaya turned his head and his image blurred. If someone had been watching, they would have said that he was gone in the span of a blink.

Leaping across the rooftops, Hitsugaya made his way against the gradually darkening Soul Society. Barely touching the tiles, he would shunpo to the next roof. None too much later, he was standing on Sokyoku hill. Not many came here, being a place of execution, and now the place where Aizen-teme had left Soul Society. But that made it a perfect place to think.

Hitsugaya stood there, staring off into the distance. His thoughts were on what the So-Taichou had said earlier when he gave his report.

**~Flashback~**

"Did you make any friends with the wizards, Hitsugaya-Taichou?"

Hitsugaya paused and looked at the So-Taichou with barely recognizable surprise. "Friends, So-Taichou? Why would I need to do that? I am only there to observe them."

The old man only hummed. "Very well. You are dismissed, Hitsugaya-Taichou."

Hitsugaya bowed and left.

**~End Flashback~**

Hitsugaya frowned. Friends? He was only there to observe the wizards, wasn't he? He would leave the Wizarding world for good once his school days at Hogwarts were over. What use was there in making bonds?

Hitsugaya tilted his head back to watch as he stars as they gradually twinkled into view. Perhaps what the So-Taichou was saying was that it would be easier to gather information if he could better associate with the wizards. Besides, it wasn't as if Kurosaki should spend every minute of the day with him. Yes, he would try to better associate with the wizards when he returned to school.

But, then, there was another thing. It was something that the So-Taichou had also said right before he had asked if he had made any friends.

**~Flashback~**

"From what you have told me, Hitsugaya-Taichou, this Dumbledore character has always believed you to be at your relatives' house. Now he knows that you were not there, but will expect you to go there. So, Urahara will hunt down your relatives and then you will live with them for the final month before you return to school."

Hitsugaya nodded tightly.

**~End Flashback~**

Hitsugaya sat down on a rock. He sighed softly. That was the one thing that he was not looking forward to. He didn't want to spend a month with his relatives. He wasn't sure why he was supposed to go to his relatives, after all, he had told Dumbledore that he had grown up in Japan. But there wasn't anything he could do about it, being the So-Taichou's orders. But, maybe he could get Kurosaki to go through the torment with him.

Hitsugaya placed his head in his hands, letting his carefully constructed exterior to crumble, no one being around to see him. Every person when they died remembered things from when they were alive. However, over time, those memories would fade and become hazy. It was the same for him, though he did not have very many memories to lose, having died at a very young age. But there would always be one memory that he would never lose. It would always continue to haunt him no matter how many times he tried to push it away and bury it.

His death. The memory of his death at the hands of the very person who was supposed to care for him. His _murder _at the hands of the very person he would have to live with for a month. He snorted. If it was one thing to look forward to was the look of horror when he showed up on their doorsteps alive, or at least alive to their eyes.

A Shinigami suddenly used shunpo to arrive in the empty space behind him. Hitsugaya immediately had his cold exterior up again and had spun to face the person, a hand on Hyourinmaru's hilt. It was Matsumoto.

Hitsugaya turned away again. "Were you looking for me, Matsumoto?"

The red head smiled sadly at her Taichou's back. "No, Taichou, I only felt your Reiatsu and came to see why you were up here."

"I only came to think, Matsumoto." The young prodigy flickered out of sight, using shunpo to disappear quickly.

Matsumoto sighed softly. Her Taichou was so young in Shinigami years. He was a prodigy, yes, but she felt that he was forcing himself to do too much, being a Taichou at such a young age. That didn't mean she thought he was a bad Taichou! Oh, no, definitely not. She was proud to have him as her Taichou, but sometimes she wondered if it was too much for him. She whispered into the slight breeze. "Be careful, Taichou."

B/HP

Two months until school started again. Hitsugaya was standing on a light post in Karakura Town, his arms folded. The So-Taichou had sent him to the town because there had been an increase in hollow appearances lately and he wanted a Taichou to see what was going on. Hitsugaya had been sent, having already been in the town before. Matsumoto came with him.

They had just arrived in Karakura and would be staying for a month. After that, he and Kurosaki would be going to his relatives for the final month before school. Hitsugaya frowned. He would not be looking forward to telling that to Kurosaki.

Hitsugaya leapt off the light post and used shunpo, going in the direction of Urahara's shop. He had to pick up his gigai. Matsumoto followed wordlessly behind.

Suddenly, a large Reiatsu appeared. Hitsugaya stopped midair. Matsumoto stopped beside him. "It's a hollow!"

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. "It's Reiatsu is stronger than a regular hollow. This is an arrancar." He quickly disappeared in the direction of the strong Reiatsu. Matsumoto followed quickly behind.

Hitsugaya flickered back into view in a large field, Matsumoto appearing seconds after his arrival. The arrancar was bending over the prone form of a person with high Reiatsu. Hitsugaya drew Hyourinmaru. Matsumoto also drew her zanpaktou, Haineko.

Hitsugaya eyed the crumpled figure on the ground. "What are you doing here, arrancar?"

The white clothed hollow straightened. "Well, if it isn't Shinigami."

Hitsugaya tightened his grip on Hyourinmaru. He lunged at the arrancar, calling out, "_Souten ni Zase! Hyourinmaru!_"

Matsumoto also sprung into action, pulling the almost victim out of harm's way.

The arrancar laughed. "Your little tricks can't harm me, Shinigami!"

Hitsugaya scowled. He had the stupid limiter on so he would have to go Bankai to make sure that he defeated the arrancar quickly.

"_Bankai!"_

Ice swirled around him, freezing the area around him. Matsumoto shielded her face from the onslaught of cold. She quickly looked back, however, when it calmed down slightly. Her Taichou had a magnificent Bankai. Great ice wings sprouted from his back, and ice encased the hand clenching Hyourinmaru, forming a claw.

Hitsugaya stood calmly for a second before leaping at the arrancar using shunpo. (A/N: I suck at writing battle scenes just so you all know.) The arrancar drew its own zanpaktou.

The two traded blows. The arrancar fired a Cero at Hitsugaya, the Taichou using his ice wings to shield himself.

Slowly the flowers behind him disintegrated, his time grew shorter. Hitsugaya needed to finish off the arrancar quickly.

Gathering Reiatsu for his last attack, Hitsugaya lunged at the arrancar. After a span that lasted mere seconds, Hitsugaya landed in a crouch behind the arrancar. His Bankai crumbled away, he not being able to retain it anymore. Behind him, the arrancar crumbled into dust, his mask having been split.

Hitsugaya released Shikai and sheathed Hyourinmaru. He walked over to Matsumoto and the man they had saved. Hitsugaya barely managed to stop himself from faltering in his step when he saw that the man was his potions professor. He mentally groaned, well this was going to be interesting.

Snape exclaimed, "_Potter! What was that thing? What are you wearing? What is that sword? What is this magic?_" (A/N: Italics are English)

Hitsugaya sighed. "_You are rambling, Sensei."_

The man immediately shut up and glared at him. Hitsugaya refrained from rolling his eyes. "_I suppose I cannot convince you that all you saw was a dream, or just to forget what you saw?"_

"_Most certainly not!"_

Hitsugaya glanced at his fukutaichou. "Matsumoto, help him up."

"We could use the Kiokuchikan, Taichou."

"We were on our way already to Urahara's. He will have to deal with one extra guest it seems."

Matsumoto nodded and stood up. Hitsugaya frowned. "Do you understand at least some English, Matsumoto? Or does our dear Sensei understand a word of Japanese?"

Hitsugaya was interrupted. Snape sneered as he spoke. "_It is impolite to converse when others don't understand what you are saying, or did your parents not teach you any manners, Mr. Potter? Oh, I'm sorry, your parents are dead."_

Hitsugaya gave him a frosty look. He muttered, "At least his snarky personality is returning," before using shunpo.

Snape's eyes widened at Hitsugaya's disappearance. He was then dragged to his feet and came face to face with a busty redhead who wore similar clothes to Potter, except without the white coat thing. (A/n: the Taichou haori) The redhead gave him a slight look of distaste before speaking to him in understandable, but highly accented English. "I would appreciate it, Sensei, if you did not insult my Taichou."

Before Snape could ask what a Taichou was, the red head grabbed his arm and swung him on her back. Before he had a chance to complain, his vision blurred. When it cleared he saw a brief glance of a roof before his vision blurred again. This happened again and again before finally they stopped in the yard of a store that was sandwiched between two tall buildings.

Snape immediately scrambled off of the red head's back. "_What in Merlin's name was that?!_"

The red head didn't reply. Nor did Potter, who he noticed was standing nearby. Snape scowled. He did not like being ignored.

Hitsugaya walked up to the doors and slid them open. A short red haired boy appeared, Jinta. "Hey, We're not open yet! Can't- Oh, Hitsugaya-Taichou. Urahara-san has been waiting for you. He's in the back of the shop. You didn't bring that freeloader did you?"

Hitsugaya ignored him and walked towards the back of the shop. There, he found Urahara sitting with his fan in front of his face. The shopkeeper said nothing for a moment, only examining Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, and Snape. Finally, he gave one of his grins. "Who is this, Hitsugaya-Taichou?"

Hitsugaya paused before replying. "A wizard. He's a sensei at Hogwarts. Speak in English. He can't understand a word of Japanese."

Urahara nodded. "_So, where did you guys find him, then?"_

"_You felt that arrancar from earlier didn't you? Snape was attacked."_

Snape opened his mouth to make a comment, but was interrupted by Urahara. "_Why didn't you replace his memories, then, Hitsugaya-Taichou?"_

Snape finally got a word in, interrupting whatever Hitsugaya was going to say. "_What is going on here?! Who's Hitsugaya? What's a Taichou? What was that thing from earlier? I expect some answers!"_

"_You sure you don't want to replace his memories, Taichou?"_

Hitsugaya paused. "_No. I think that he will be useful in the future. If he ever tells, I'll just pull Hyourinmaru on him."_

Urahara chuckled and stood up. "_I guess explanations are in order, then."_

The shopkeeper led them into the back of the shop where there was a table. The three Shinigami and one wizard sat around the table. All was silent before Snape finally had enough. "_Where is this explanation I was going to get?!"_

"_Impatient fellow, isn't he, Taichou?"_

"_You can see for yourself, Urahara."_

The shopkeeper grinned before suddenly stating. "_Oh, where are my manners? There haven't been any introductions! I am Urahara Kisuke."_

Matsumoto piped up. "_I'm Matsumoto Rangiku." _Matsumoto then stated, when Hitsugaya stayed silent, "_He is Hitsugaya Toshirou."_

Snape eyed Hitsugaya. "_Hitsugaya Toshirou? Isn't he Harry Potter?"_

Hitsugaya looked over at him with a frosty look. "_I was abandoned at a very young age by my uncle. I came to Japan under unique circumstances. I did not know my name, so one was given to me. I have been Hitsugaya Toshirou ever since. I have no attachment to the name Harry Potter."_

"_Abandoned? You were supposed to remain with your relatives."_

Hitsugaya looked away. _"It's been so long ago so the memories tend to fade some, but my uncle called me a freak when he threw me into the icy river."_

Matsumoto looked over at her Taichou with a surprised and sad look. She had never heard of how her little Taichou had died. She whispered, "Taichou…"

Hitsugaya didn't even look at her. Snape furrowed his eyebrows. "_Thrown into an icy river? How did you survive?"_

Hitsugaya turned his head back to Snape. His answer was simple. "_I didn't."_

Snape sneered. "_You are very clearly sitting in front of me, Mr. Potter."_

Hitsugaya only raised an eyebrow. "_Do you know what happens when a person dies?" _Not waiting for a reply, he continued. "_The departed soul goes to a place called Soul Society. When I died, my magic threw my soul far into the past and into the Japanese Soul Society instead of the English one. I grew up in Soul Society with another young girl and her adopted grandmother. Now, there are souls who have a larger amount of Reiatsu then others. You wizards call Reiatsu magic. Those souls that have large amounts of Reiatsu will become Shinigami, or Soul Reapers. Shinigami have the soul job of destroying hollows and helping deceased souls pass into Soul Society."_

"_What are these hollows you keep speaking about?"_

"_Hollows were once human souls, but they became attached to something or died in some tragic way that they don't want to leave, can't pass on. Eventually, they lose everything and are left with just instincts. They devour souls. The hollow you were attacked by was a more evolved hollow, an arrancar."_

"_You are one of these Shinigami I take it?"_

Matsumoto interrupted. "_They say he is a prodigy among the Shinigami. He became a Taichou at such a young age for a Shinigami."_

Snape scowled. "_What is a Taichou? You keep saying that, but you have yet to explain that!"_

Urahara took over the explanation. "_Soul Society is divided between the Seireitei, where the Shinigami reside, and where all the souls reside. The Seireitei is further divided in three parts. The first is the Onmitsukidou, or the Special Ops. The second part is the Kidoushuu. The final part is the Goteijuusentai, or the Gotei 13. All are governed under the Central 46 Chambers. Now, the Goteijuusentai is broken up into thirteen squads. Each squad has a Taichou and a Fukutaichou. Translated into English: a captain and a vice-captain. Simply put, they are in charge of each squad and only answer to the So-Taichou, the Captain Commander. Hitsugaya here is the Taichou of the 10__th__ squad. Matsumoto is his fukutaichou."_

Snape stared at Hitsugaya. "_So, you're dead and a captain in this group of dead people who hunt creatures who try to eat souls."_

Hitsugaya shot him another icy look and said wryly, "_That's one way to put it. I expect you to keep your silence on this, Snape-sensei. If not, I will go after you with Hyourinmaru."_

Snape gave him a strange look. _"What's that?"_

"_You saw my battle with the arrancar didn't you? Hyourinmaru is my zanpaktou." _Hitsugaya placed a hand on the hilt of Hyourinmaru.

Snape eyed the zanpaktou with a wary look. Hitsugaya felt some satisfaction at the look.

All was silent for a few minutes before Hitsugaya spoke. _"What are you doing in Japan, Snape-sensei?"_

"_Looking for potions ingredients."_

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. Snape was hiding something. He gave the professor one of his best icy glares. The man glared back. Finally though, after several minutes of glaring, Snape relented. "_The Headmaster also sent me to look for you."_

Urahara perked up. "_Oh, that reminds me, Hitsugaya-kun! I found the address of your relatives!"_

Snape raised an eyebrow. Hitsugaya looked away with a scowl. Matsumoto replied for her Taichou when he wouldn't answer. "_The So-Taichou wanted Hitsugaya-Taichou to stay with his relatives for the last month of vacation. We don't know the So-Taichou's reasoning, but we can't go against his orders."_

Urahara spoke again. "_That reminds me again! Your gigai are ready are ready for you."_

Snape looked confused once again. "_Gigai?"_

"_A fake body, of course!" _Urahara pulled out his fan again and gave one of his smiles.

Snape eyes the shopkeeper with a wary look. He wasn't too sure about the man.

B/HP

Kurosaki was whining and it was beginning to get on Hitsugaya's nerves. "Why do we have to be here? I don't see why we have to stay here for a month!"

Hitsugaya gave the boy an icy glare. "Shut up, Kurosaki! I don't want to be here anymore than you do!"

Ichigo's eyes widened as Hitsugaya turned away. The white haired Shinigami had never lost his temper like that towards him before. Usually it was a twitching eyebrow, a grumbled 'shut up, Kurosaki,' and then the Taichou would ignore him. He rarely yelled at him like that.

Ichigo frowned deeply. Something had happened then because of his relatives. The Taichou was in a foul mood, it had to be because they were going to his relatives' house. He wondered what.

They were currently walking along the drive towards the house with their trunks. Ichigo frowned in distaste at their surroundings. Everything on the street was so identical in its appearance. These people were obviously conformists and obsessed with the notion of 'normal'.

They paused in front of the door before Hitsugaya rang the doorbell. They heard footsteps approach the door. It opened to reveal a thin woman with a horse-like face. She gave them a fake smile. "_Can I help you?"_

"_This is Ichigo Kurosaki and I am Harry Potter. You received my letter didn't you, Aunt?"_

The woman's eyes widened and she paled. She called out shrilly. _"Vernon!!"_

There was a pounding as if a herd of elephants were approaching. An obese man with a huge mustache appeared in the doorway. "_What is it, Pet?"_

The woman pointed a shaking finger at them. "_They said they are the ones that sent us that letter!"_

The man purpled in his anger. "_What kind of joke were you trying to pull?! We don't have a nephew named Harry Potter."_

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed. "_I suppose you would say that after trying to kill me all those years ago, __Uncle__."_

Ichigo's eyes widened at the revelation. These _animals_ _killed_ Toshirou!? His eyes narrowed and he resisted the urge to growl.

The obese man sputtered. "_Potter had black hair!" _He was grasping at straws.

"_Magic, __my dear uncle__. Now let us in. We will stay out of your way as long as you stay out of our way. Leave us in peace and maybe we won't report you for the attempted murder of a minor."_

The man growled and stood out of the way. The woman stood there silently with wide eyes and a pale face. "_You get the smallest bedroom, our Dudley's second bedroom. Don't touch or break anything!"_

The two Shinigami walked inside and walked up the stairs. They quickly found the bedroom and Hitsugaya looked around in disgust. This family was absolutely disgusting. It was going to be a long month.

B/HP

Ichigo sat sitting crossed legged on the bed. He was silently watching a sleeping Toshirou. The white haired boy had let Ichigo take the room's only bed last night while he had curled up on the floor. But Ichigo hadn't been able to fall asleep easily. His mind had been too occupied with what had happened earlier in the day. So, at six in the morning, Ichigo sat watching the other occupant of the room, having only been able to sleep a few short hours of fitful rest.

Yesterday when they first arrived, Shirou had mentioned that his relatives had tried to kill him. But, Shirou was a Shinigami. Did that mean that these creatures actually succeeded in killing their young nephew?

It was at that moment that Hitsugaya woke up to see Kurosaki seated on the bed, watching him thoughtfully. Hitsugaya say up. "Is there a reason why you were watching me sleep, Kurosaki?"

The orange haired boy was silent for a moment before speaking softly. "The Dursleys are the reason you're dead, aren't they, Toshirou?"

Hitsugaya looked away. "I don't like delving into my past, Kurosaki. Leave it in the past."

"It's bothering you, though, isn't it?"

"Leave it alone, Kurosaki."

Ichigo slid off the bed to kneel on the floor next to Toshirou. He took the boy's face in his hand and gently turned Toshirou's face towards his. "Tell me, Toshirou."

"Is it really bothering you that much, Kurosaki? You're acting very out of character."

Ichigo dropped his hand and scowled slightly. "Yes, it is! You're one of my friends, even if you don't see me the same way. If something if bothering you or someone hurts you, it bothers me! I told you before, remember, during that whole thing with Kusaka. You don't have to suffer alone. You don't have to carry the burden by yourself! Let your friends take some of your pain, and the resolve that comes with it!"

Hitsugaya looked at Ichigo with wide eyes. "Kurosaki…"

Kurosaki gave him a sad smile. "I'm your friend, aren't I, Toshirou?"

Hitsugaya turned his head to the side. He was silent for a long minute before finally speaking. "When I was very young, only a year old, my parents were killed. I don't remember any details, but you know the story with Voldemort and everything. I was sent here to this house. I don't remember many things about my life here, being so long ago, but I wasn't treated kindly. I went through neglect and abuse, both physical and emotional. Finally, though, my relatives had enough.

Did you know that a Shinigami's death and personality in life can effect which zanpaktou they will have? (A/n: actually, I don't know if this is true or not, but I thought that it would work for my story) It was the middle of the night when my uncle brought me out to the river nearby. It must have been sometime in the winter months for how cold it was outside. The river itself was fast moving, having not frozen over. He yelled at me, calling me a freak, shaking me. He finally dropped me into the river below. I could feel something inside of me building, trying to do something. I know now that it was Reiatsu, I have always had a high Reiatsu count. I was using it subconsciously in my panic, trying to save my life. Still, though, I died."

Hitsugaya stood up and walked over to the open window. He stepped out of his gigai and placed the empty husk on the bed. He, then, jumped onto the windowsill. Kurosaki only watched him silently. Hitsugaya turned his head to the side. "Now you know why I don't want to be here, Kurosaki."

With that, he jumped out the window and landed with a soft thud on the wet morning grass. He sprinted off across the lawn and down the street.

Ichigo stood up and walked out of the room towards the bathroom. Why did the So-Taichou send him back to the Dursley's if they were the ones to kill him? Unless, the So-Taichou didn't know how Shirou died.

What else was the Taichou hiding? How painful was his past?

B/HP

Ichigo was kneeling in the middle of the park in his Shinigami form. Shirou was circling around him, also in his Shinigami form. Ichigo was concentrating on his Reiatsu, trying and mostly succeeding at controlling it. Suddenly, Shirou sent a Kidou in his direction. Drawing Zangetsu, he deflected the Kidou, still concentrating on his Reiatsu.

Hitsugaya nodded. The orange haired boy had become better. He had been practicing it seems. Well, it was time to up it. Hitsugaya drew Hyourinmaru. He lunged at Kurosaki, who quickly raised Zangetsu to block the blow.

"Shirou!"

"I thought you had progressed enough for you to fight me while doing your exercises. Don't disappoint me, Kurosaki. And it's Hitsugaya-Taichou to you."

Ichigo grit his teeth together. He wouldn't disappoint Shirou!

While they fought, Hitsugaya noticed that Kurosaki's Reiatsu still fluctuated, but it had toned down since the last time he had seen Kurosaki fight. The boy was improving.

Eventually, Hitsugaya stopped the sparring. He sheathed Hyourinmaru. "You have improved, Kurosaki, but you still need much more improvement. Controlling your Reiatsu needs to become second nature. I expect you to work constantly on controlling your Reiatsu, through the entirety of the day and night. You need to get to the point that it is second nature and you want lose control even in your sleep."

"That will take forever! If I have to do that, I'll never learn Kidou!"

Hitsugaya started walking away. "What happened to the Kurosaki I know? The one who could learn Bankai in the matter of three days?"

Shirou left using Shunpo, leaving behind a surprised and thoughtful Ichigo.

B/HP

"_We need a ride to London, Uncle."_

The obese man grunted. "_Whatever."_

"_Now, Uncle. Kurosaki and I need to go get our school supplies."_

"_You can't order me around in my own house!"_

Hitsugaya scowled and crossed his arms. "_You will, Uncle."_

The man glared at them and then stood up. "_Fine! But, I will only give you one hour there or I will leave you in London!"_

"_That is fine."_

B/HP

Ichigo looked around Diagon Alley, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Maybe this is why the So-Taichou wanted us to go to the Dursleys. So we could get here and get our own supplies this time. Urahara got my supplies for me the first time."

Hitsugaya didn't say anything. It was possible, but for a whole month? No one would be able to understand the So-Taichou's reasoning or actions.

"Books first, Kurosaki. There seems to be a long line."

Ichigo nodded and the two quickly made their way over to the bookstore. There, they were assaulted by a large crowd of people. Ichigo groaned. This was going to take forever!

Hitsugaya frowned. Why was there such a long line? Then, he saw it. A large sign was exclaiming a book signing for one Gilderoy Lockhart. The white haired Shinigami raised an eyebrow and looked down at his booklist. Every single defense book was written by Gilderoy Lockhart. He snorted. The guy sounded like a fraud.

Hitsugaya pushed his way through the crowd to find his books. Kurosaki followed close behind so not to lose him in the mass of people. They found their book as quickly as they could. When they were at the checkout counter, the crowd suddenly hushed. The two Shinigami looked over. An overly smiley man was standing at the front of the crowd. He exclaimed, _"I, Gilderoy Lockhart, would like to announce that this year I will be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher!"_

Hitsugaya snorted. _"As if a fraud like him could ever teach something worthwhile."_

Unfortunately for poor Hitsugaya, the crowd was still silent at this point and his voice managed to carry throughout the store. Lockhart heard the comment, and with a strained smile, asked, "And who are you, kid?"

Hitsugaya gave him a frosty glare at the 'kid' comment and replied reluctantly. _"Harry Potter."_

Lockhart's sunny smile came back. "_Harry Potter? Come here, come here, my boy! Let us two celebrities take a photograph together!"_

Hitsugaya turned his back on the man. He replied icily, _"No. And if you know what's good for you, you will not try to get me to take a picture with you."_

The two Shinigami paid for their books and tried to leave quickly. However, they were blocked from leaving. A large family of red heads, the Weaselys, was standing opposite of two blonde males.

Ichigo frowned. Malfoy. And the older must be his father. He snorted and turned to Hitsugaya. _"The older guy reminds me of Byakuya."_

Hitsugaya frowned. _"You really have a problem with not adding honorifics to names don't you? That's Kuchiki-Taichou to you."_

"_What, you don't agree?"_

"_No, I don't. Kuchiki-Taichou is much more interesting and less stuck up."_

Malfoy heard their short conversation. _"Are you insulting my father, Potter?!"_

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. _"Why would I see the need to insult your father, or you that matter, Malfoy-chan?" _Kurosaki snorted from beside him. _"You are perfectly able to cause insult to yourself through your own actions."_

The younger Malfoy scowled at him, but didn't say anything when his father put a restraining hand on his shoulder. "_Well, well. If this isn't the Mr. Potter I have heard so much about. Tell me, do you bleach your hair? I know for a fact that your father had black hair. White isn't a natural hair colour."_

Panicked, Ichigo asked a question, trying to distract Shirou. Questions about his hair colour were not usually received well. "_That brings me to a point! Does Yachiru dye her hair pink, Harry?"_

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow, again. He knew what Kurosaki was trying to do. "_Its natural, Kurosaki. And don't distract me." _He turned back to the older Malfoy. _"It is natural, a result from an accident when I was little. Why is that so important to tell you, Malfoy-san?"_

"_You didn't grow up in England did you, Mr. Potter."_

"_No, I didn't, Malfoy-san. And I do not see the importance behind these questions. So move out of my way."_

The man scowled and moved out of the way. Kurosaki glanced at Hitsugaya. "You do know what he was trying to do. Don't you?"

"I'm sure that he worked for Voldemort. That man is going to hell when he dies."

B/HP

Ichigo was stretched out along the seat of the compartment he and Shirou had taken on the Hogwarts Express. The rest of the summer had gone fairly quickly. He had worked harder on controlling his Reiatsu, and the both of them had taking to avoiding the Dursleys at all costs. Now, they were seated on the train at King Cross station.

The door slid open, breaking Ichigo from his musings. A few Gryffindor students walked in. The saw him and smiled. "_Mind if we sit here? Your name is Ichigo, right?"_

He went to nod, but then one of the students noticed Shirou. _"Oh, it's a Slytherin. Why is he in here?"_

Ichigo opened his mouth to retort angrily, but he was silenced in surprised when Shirou stood up. The white haired boy didn't look at him as he pulled his trunk off the rack and pushed past the Gryffindors. Before the compartment door closed, still without looking at him, Shirou stated, "_Make some new friends, Kurosaki. You don't have to be around me all the time."_

With that, he left, leaving Ichigo to stare at the now closed door.

B/HP

_Phew! All done! I hope you all liked this chapter! Next chapter is second year, should be more exciting than first year was!_


	6. Chapter 6

_IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is in response to all the reviews concerning the lack of interaction between Ichigo, Shirou-chan, and the Hogwarts characters. All of that was intentional. I realize that I could have put a little more interaction or separate reactions in a different POV, but what's done is done. The point of the minimal reaction was to emphasize the point that Shirou-chan doesn't believe he belongs in the Wizarding World and only sees his stay there as an assignment. I intended for the first year chapter to show Shirou-chan's distance. From now on there will be much more interaction. You have my promise!_

"_Japanese"_

'_Japanese Zanpaktou speaking'_

"English"

'English Zanpaktou speaking'

_Here's my update! And remember, I can only dream of owning Bleach and Harry Potter._

**Chapter 6**

Hitsugaya sat on the ledge of the astronomy tower overlooking the grounds. The air was cool, darkness having blanketed the sky. It was night and Hitsugaya, once again, could not sleep. He had come here to think, to clear his mind and let down his barriers. His legs were dangly over the side of the turret and his gaze was turned towards the sky.

After the Welcome Feast, Hitsugaya had made his way to the Tower, not even bothering with going to the Slytherin common room. Kurosaki had watched him as he had left the Hall, but had made no move to leave his new friends. He was glad that the boy hadn't followed him. Really he was.

"_I don't belong here, Hyourinmaru."_

A deep voice rumbled through his head, soft yet fierce. _'You are a Shinigami in the world of the living. You will feel out of place.'_

"_What does the Soutaichou expect me to do? I do not interact well with the wizards. I am not suited to the task he gave me."_

The voice turned reprimanding and his zanpaktou materialized into the real world. Cold scales became wrapped around Hitsugaya. _'Do not speak like that, Hitsugaya Toshirou. You know as well as I do that you can complete your task. You once belonged here, who says that you can't once more?"_

Hitsugaya leaned against the hard icy scales of his companion. _"I'm as cold as the ice that I love so much, Hyourinmaru. You and I both know this. How can anyone want to be so near to me?"_

'_That boy, Kurosaki Ichigo, wanted to be your friend did him not?"_

"_He is a fool."_

'_How is he a fool, little one? Because he wants to be your friend?'_

Hitsugaya turned his head to come face to face with Hyourinmaru. The ice dragon had an air of amusement about him. Hitsugaya scowled. _"Shut up."_

The dragon chuckled. _'You say you are as cold as ice, little one, but all snow and ice can melt.'_

HP/B

A young boy stood on the grounds of the school. Hidden in the shadows created by night, he could not be seen from the castle. He was leaning against a tree, staring up at the dark castle. Potter was back again tonight. Only a week into the school year, the white haired boy would frequently appear at the top of the astronomy tower late at night. Perhaps the boy had trouble sleeping.

The boy stood up from where he had been leaning. He swept black hair out of his grey eyes and started his short trek back to the castle. Potter had been nothing like how he had been expecting him to be. As a young child, he had been told stories about the Boy-Who-Lived. How the infant had somehow managed to defeat the most evil Dark Lord in over a century, and then had promptly disappeared into the Muggle world. From these stories about a savior, and stories about how the boy's parents had been, he, as well as most of the Wizarding world, had been expecting a kind, brash, courageous, Gryffindor Golden boy. Instead, Potter had been the exact opposite of what had been expected of him to be. This boy was cold, aloof, and in Slytherin. Instead wanting to be in the spotlight, he had refused to become friends with anyone. Even the orange haired boy, Kurosaki if he remembered correctly, who had always been around him the last year, was seen sitting with Gryffindor and Potter seen completely alone.

The black haired boy smirked. The white haired Boy-Who-Lived was certainly an enigma. He had always enjoyed riddles. He would crack the puzzle of the Ice Prince, whether the boy liked it or not. He, Blaise Zabini, never backed down from a challenge.

HP/B

Ichigo scowled deeply. What was up with Shirou lately? The Taichou had abandoned him to Gryffindor and had been ignoring him for the past week! Arms crossed, he brooded in his thoughts, grumbling in a low voice.

It was a moment later though that Dumbledore stood up and addressed the attention of the students there for breakfast. "Starting today, Hogwarts will see the addition of a new class. This is a mandatory class for younger years, but the older years will have the option of leaving the class." Whispers broke out, the students curious over the new subject. Dumbledore held up a hand to silence them. "Quiet please. Now, wizards have seen the decline of physical fitness over the years due to a dependence on magic. In response, the Hogwarts' staff and I have seen fit to add a new class, Physical Education. You will all receive new timetables with the added class.

Now, I have recruited the help of a new teacher to teach the new class. Traveling all the way from Japan to teach you, being the reason why it took a week into the year before these classes could begin, I would like to introduce the new member of our faculty, Shuuhei Hisagi."

Hitsugaya looked towards the doors. Hisagi? It wasn't the 9th division fukutaichou was it? When the new professor walked through the doors, Hitsugaya immediately recognized the tattooed and scarred face. It really was the 9th division fukutaichou. What was the man doing here? He would have to talk to him later.

The black haired man walked down the center aisle until he reached the teachers' table. He turned and bowed to the students. In a clear, but highly accented, voice, he said, "Call me Hisagi-sensei."

Hitsugaya snorted and returned to his meal. The fukutaichou was going to have to deal with him calling him plain old 'Hisagi'. The man was a respected Shinigami, but he knew for a fact that the man drank sake with Matsumoto quite frequently. Besides, he was below him in rank, even if the wizards didn't know that.

HP/B

Ichigo stuffed his hands into his pockets. His usual scowl had deepened slightly in his thought. He didn't really get the whole importance of the Boy-Who-Lived thing. Sure, he understood how bad Voldemort had been, but the whole "Boy-Who-Lived mentality", as he had dubbed it, was just stupid. How could the _entire_ Wizarding world expect Shirou to be a savior for something he did as a baby?

And then he was placed in Slytherin. The whole thing was just silly in his opinion. What was so bad about the House? Sure many of them acted snobbish and they only stuck up for their own House, but Ichigo found that it was usually because they were forced to act that way by the behavior of the other Houses.

And now that their precious Boy-Who-Lived was in Slytherin, the boy was ousted an obviously evil wizard and a Dark Lord in the making. Ichigo snorted. The Wizarding world was so fickle.

"Ichigo!"

The orange haired boy turned towards the voice to see three teenagers walking towards him. "Hermione. Ron. Neville."

The trio grinned at him. The red-haired boy, Ron, spoke. "Heya, mate! Ready for Transfiguration?"

Ichigo made an uncommitted noise. "We have it with the Slytherins, right?"

Hermione gave him a funny look. "Of course, you should have known this from the past weeks. This isn't the first time we've had Transfiguration, Ichigo."

Ichigo shrugged, brushing it off, but Ron's eyes suddenly narrowed. "You're not trying to associate with that Potter boy again are you, Ichigo? He's bad news I tell you."

Ichigo scowled and his hand twitched with the urge to grab the red head's collar. "Stop badmouthing him, Ron. He's my friend!"

"But he's in Slytherin! It's full of Dark Wizards and wanna-be Dark Lords!"

"He's in no way 'dark'! You have no idea what he's gone through!"

A voice interrupted. "I don't need my life told as a sob story, Kurosaki."

The four students turned around to see the white haired Slytherin standing there with his arms crossed.

Ichigo noted the frosty expression on the Taichou's face. How much had he heard? Did the comments affect him more then he let on? "Ya know, Harry, it's because of that icy attitude that you don't have any friends."

"And they think I'm 'dark'."

Ichigo's eye twitched and his fingers itched to grab at Shirou. "You really love to piss me off don't you?"

"I don't see how you took offense to that, Kurosaki."

"It's that nonchalance you have! It pisses me off! Don't you care what others say about you?"

Hitsugaya said nothing and pushed past the four Gryffindors. "Don't be late to class, Kurosaki."

Ichigo held himself back, noting Shirou's smug expression. The Slytherin suddenly stopped and looked over his shoulder. "_You better not have been slacking off on your training, Kurosaki. Meet me on the grounds tonight. Don't be late._"

Ichigo's eye twitched for the second time as he watched the Taichou walk off.

"What did he say, Ichigo?"

Ichigo blinked and looked over to the three curious Gryffindors. He shook his head. "That's none of your business. If he wanted you to know he would have spoken in English. Come on, we don't want to late for Transfiguration."

HP/B

Hitsugaya stood silently on the ledge of the Astronomy Tower. The nights were slowly becoming cooler, but he paid it no mind, welcoming the cold. It brought back memories, both good and bad.

He broke from his thoughts when he felt a strong Reiatsu behind him. He turned his head slightly, noting that it was Hisagi that stood there.

The pair was silent for a long minute before Hitsugaya spoke. _"What are you doing here, Hisagi?"_

"_I am under orders from the Soutaichou."_

"_He doesn't trust me? Or is there something that he knows that I need to be notified about?"_

Hisagi was silent for a moment, formulating his answer. "Recently, news of unrest in the English Soul Society has reached the Soutaichou's ears. He sent me to give you this message, and to investigate, as well as offer you backup in case anything really nasty shows up. Normally, he knows you could handle things on your own, but the situation now is that you have to protect a school of underage wizards. The Soutaichou's words, not mine."

Hitsugaya crossed his arms. His gaze stared out into the dark sky. "You are dismissed."

Hisagi knew Hitsugaya-Taichou was mulling over the new information. He left the diminutive Shinigami to his thoughts.

HP/B

Potter was back again. This time the new professor, Hisagi had shown up as well. The two seemed to have a short conversation before Hisagi left. There had been nothing overly revealing, though he wondered if the two knew each other. They, along with the Gryffindor, Ichigo, shared the same foreign accent.

He suddenly pulled away from the tree he had been leaning against. Sweet Circe! Did Potter just _jump _off the _Astronomy Tower_!? The boy wasn't suicidal was he?!

However, the white haired boy seemed to fall slower than he should have, and landed in a crouch on the grass of the castle grounds. He stood up and strode forward, apparently unharmed.

He kept hidden, watching the Ice Prince, barely stopping himself from gapping. What type of magic did the boy do? He had not seen Potter's wand or seen any sort of spell. While trying to solve the puzzle that is Potter, all he had been able to do so far was come up with more questions!

Potter stopped near the tree line and seemed to be waiting. His cool grey eyes watched, also waiting, but for different reasons.

The wait wasn't long. The great oak doors of the entrance eased open and an orange haired figure slipped out of the castle. The black haired Slytherin narrowed his eyes. What was Kurosaki doing here?

The orange haired Shinigami walked towards Shirou. The Taichou had a frown on his face. "Hey Shirou! What are you waiting for?"

Hitsugaya glared at him. "Shut up, Kurosaki. Don't you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

Hitsugaya frowned, shooting him a look that said, 'Are you stupid?' Kurosaki only looked confused still. "There's someone else out on the grounds, Kurosaki. Can't you feel their Reiatsu?"

Ichigo frowned and looked around the grounds, concentrating. He could feel a faint trace of human Reiatsu. "I can't focus on it well."

"The Reiatsu from Hogwarts is interfering. I cannot pinpoint it either."

Ichigo snorted. "Is the great Shirou-chan admitting to not being able to do something?"

Hitsugaya's eye twitched and he raised a hand, pointing two fingers at Kurosaki. The boy froze. "Shi-Shirou?"

Hitsugaya intoned, "_Byakurai."_

The white-blue lightning of the Kidou sprung from Hitsugaya's fingertips and leapt at Kurosaki. The orange haired boy barely managed to leap out of the way. "What the hell, Shirou!?"

"You are getting on my nerves, Kurosaki. Let's get this over with. I would like to get to bed sometime tonight."

Ichigo started muttering under his breath, but made his way into the forest. There was a clearing not too far into the forest, but still well within the school's boundaries.

Hitsugaya walked behind Kurosaki. When he neared the clearing he erected a barrier so that no one could pass through. Finished, he continued on his way to the clearing where Kurosaki was waiting rather impatiently.

B/HP

Ok, this was getting ridiculous. Instead of solving one riddle, several more pop up instead. What sort of magic did Potter do? What sort of nickname, if that's what it was, was 'Shirou', and why did Kurosaki call him that? What were Potter and Kurosaki doing in the Forest so late at night?

He really needed a better strategy, but he wasn't a Slytherin for nothing. He would spend more time observing the boy, and then he would approach him. What was the line? Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. Well, who knows if the Potter boy was friend or foe, but there was no better way to find out then to get close to him.

B/HP

Hitsugaya silently walked through the dark and quiet corridors. After the training with Kurosaki, he still wasn't ready for bed. He knew that he was getting low on sleep and that it was going to affect him, but something kept him awake. So, he had opted to walking the corridors of the castle.

He paused at one point and leaned against the cold stone wall. He closed his eyes, letting his head fall back and rest against the stone. Something was wrong. There was something in the castle that should not be there. He did not know what it was, but he could not shake the feeling of wrongness.

Suddenly, he stiffened. His eyes opened, and he glanced around him. He had heard something, and it sounded close by. There it was again, louder but still unintelligible. It was coming closer. He gripped his wand, otherwise unmoving. ~Kill...~

Hitsugaya sprang from the wall and looked around him. Where had that come from? It had been a hissing voice, a scrapping sound accompanying it as the thing moved. What was it? A hollow? Where had it come from?

~I ssssmell blood… Kill…~

The voice was louder still, behind him? He turned but there was nothing there. He frowned and raised his wand. He could feel something, faintly. A trace of Reiatsu, though faint through all the Reiatsu in the walls of the castle. But, suddenly it was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

Hitsugaya lowered his wand slightly. What had that been? It felt like a hollow, but then not. There should not be hollows anywhere near Hogwarts. What was going on?

HP/B

The next morning Hitsugaya decided to forgo breakfast. He didn't care much for the English breakfast anyways. His first class was with Hisagi. Well, this should be interesting. He had grown up in a harsh environment, learning survival at an early age. Then, he had joined the Shinigami Academy where he went through training of both a physical and intellectual kind. He had joined the 13 Gotei, and soon became a Taichou. Those who were going to be in the P.E. class with him were going to be way below his level.

He made his way to the first floor where a large classroom had been designated as for the P.E. class. Entering the classroom, he examined the layout. It was a spacious room, with mats lining the floor. Two doors were placed on the far wall, probably changing rooms of sorts. Another door, this one leading to the outside was opposite of the entrance from the corridor.

Sensing Hisagi's Reiatsu, Hitsugaya looked up to see the man sitting on one of the rafters. He was wearing a plain black Shihakushou, though he was in a gigai. "_Hoping to scare the second years?"_

The man had a barely noticeable smirk on his face. "_Hai." _He, then, gestured towards the doors. "_Since you're early, you can get a head start on your classmates. The boys' changing room is on the left. There are uniforms in there. Don't worry, Taichou, Dumbledore spelled them to adjust to the person wearing them."_

Hitsugaya turned and walked towards the changing room. He was silent for a moment, before he addressed the 9th division fukutaichou. _"Even if we are not in Soul Society at the moment, Hisagi, I still outrank you."_

He entered the changing room, not bothering to wait for a response from Hisagi. Several minutes later he left with a scowl. He was wearing a Shihakushou reminiscent of the ones he had worn while in the Shinigami Academy. Only, these were coloured according to House so his were green and white instead of the blue and white he had worn during his Academy days. He scowled down at himself. "_I feel like I'm in the Academy all over again."_

Hisagi snorted. _"At least you know how to put it on. I have a feeling that today will be dedicated to teaching the kids how to wear the Shihakushou."_

Hitsugaya snorted and sat down against the wall, his arms crossed as he waited the rest of the class. After a few minutes, Hisagi stood up, still on the rafters, he looked down at Hitsugaya. "_Do you want to spar, Hitsugaya-Taichou? No shunpo or Kidou, just regular hand to hand?"_

"_Abandoning your plan to scare the second years?"_

Hisagi shrugged. _"I can always set that plan aside for another day or another class. Also, it won't be for awhile until all the other students are here."_

"_The entire second year, isn't it?"_

"_I'm the lucky one who gets stuck with the large classes."_

Hitsugaya uncrossed his arms and stood up. "_I'll take you up on your offer, Hisagi. Think you can beat a Taichou?"_

Hisagi didn't say anything; he only jumped down from the rafters. Hitsugaya appraised the other Shinigami. He knew the other was skilled, having been made a fukutaichou a good clue to that. It would be nice to spar with someone skilled for once even if they wouldn't be able to use any Kidou or their Zanpaktou. With Kurosaki, he had to hold back since the boy was still working on controlling his Reiatsu so his attention was a little divided.

Shuuhei, in turn, appraised Hitsugaya-Taichou. While he was talented, there was a reason that the Taichou was known for being a prodigy. It would be a good fight though. He might be able to use the Taichou's small stature to his advantage, though he could easily turn it against him. He mentally sweat-dropped though. It wouldn't be a good thing to mention that out loud, though.

Hitsugaya watched Hisagi closely, waiting for the man to make a move. The two watched each other, both assessing the other. Soon, there was a small tensing in Hisagi's form. Hitsugaya dropped into a defensive stance as the other Shinigami flew into action.

(A/N: I know nothing about martial arts of any kind and I can't write fight scenes. It will probably be short so just use your imaginations. Just warning you all.) Running at Hitsugaya-Taichou, Shuuhei jumped into the air and aimed a kick at the other. Blocking the kick with an arm, Hitsugaya-Taichou retaliated.

The two Shinigami traded punches and kicks, constantly in motion. Blocking a punch, Hitsugaya immediately twisted and aimed a kick at his opponent. Hisagi jumped back and brought his arms up, avoiding and blocking the kick.

It continued back and forth. When the students arrived at the room, they entered to find Hitsugaya leaping out of the way of a sweep from Hisagi, performing a back flip to get away. He landed perfectly. When he did, Hisagi quickly stood and then glanced at the students who had entered. He straightened and looked back towards Hitsugaya. "_I guess we'll have to cut our spar short. A draw?"_

Hitsugaya straightened. He stared at Hisagi for a moment before responding. "_Very well." _He and Hisagi bowed toward each other. Hitsugaya then walked over to the wall and sat down. Several of the students were gaping at him. Hitsugaya pointedly ignored them.

After awhile, all the students arrived. Hisagi assessed them before pointing towards the locker rooms. "Boys' are on the left and girls' are on the right. In there you'll find uniforms. Please change and then come back out here as quickly as you can."

The students quickly made their way to the changing rooms. As Hitsugaya watched them walk, he spoke top Hisagi. "Not even going to bother explaining how to put on Shihakushou?"

Hisagi didn't look at Hitsugaya. "I want to see how many can figure it out on their own."

Hitsugaya crossed his arms. The guy never changed. And he was supposed to be a fukutaichou? Well, the man was a good fukutaichou, he could give him that. Sometimes, though, he wondered. Hitsugaya closed his eyes and lowered his head, his arms still crossed. Well, most Shinigami had strange habits; it was their way of coping with the life they had to lead.

It was sometime later that the students returned. Only Kurosaki had managed to completely put the Shihakushou on right, though most of the boys were fairly close. Kurosaki had obviously helped them. The girls had managed to mostly put it on right. Hitsugaya sat there bored as Hisagi gave out pointers to put it on properly.

Once everyone's uniforms were fixed, they were told to sit on the floor. Hisagi then started speaking. "My name is Hisagi Shuuhei, or Shuuhei Hisagi I suppose is how you would say it in English. Please call me, Hisagi-sensei. This class is designed to get all you gaki into shape. Wizards rely too much on magic in my opinion. If you want, though, you say see it this way: if you are fit, then you can last longer in a duel and if you ever lose your wand in a duel, you won't be defenseless. Any questions?"

Several students raised their hands. Hisagi motioned for one of the Gryffindors to speak. The girl gestured at her Shihakushou. "Why do we have to wear this thing?"

"It's called a Shihakushou. I requested that for a uniform because you can't wear your robes is this class, they'll get in the way. Besides, they are a comfortable."

"But why not pants and t-shirt?"

Hisagi coughed. "I don't know much about the clothes of England." Trying to divert the topic he motioned for another student to speak. It was a Slytherin boy. "Are you a muggle?"

Hisagi was silent for a moment, staring at the boy. "I don't see how that is any of your concern, but no I'm not a muggle." He left it at that and motioned for another student to speak. It continued until no one had any more questions.

Hisagi ordered everyone to line up according to House. The students quickly did as they were ordered. When they were in their lines, Hisagi showed them various ways to stretch. When they were done, he set them off to running laps around the room. He stood is the center, watching them, assessing their abilities.

After several laps, some of the kids were lying panting on the floor; others were leaning against the walls out of breath. Very few students were not as affected as everyone else. It was only Shirou and Ichigo though that didn't look winded at all. They just stood there. Ichigo snorted. "Are you all that out of shape?"

One of the students on the floor, croaked out. "How can you say that? You guys are nuts!"

Ichigo shrugged. "I've trained in martial arts since I was really young, and my old man is a freak, too, so I'm fairly fit. Still, you guys are really weak."

Hisagi interrupted before a fight could break out seeing as the boy on the floor looked ready to yell. He pointed to a table that had appeared. It had bottles of water on it. "Everyone can take a five minute break to cool down and get some water."

After that, the class continued on. Hisagi spent the whole time assessing the students' abilities. At the end he was sure he had a lot of work ahead of him. But, on a different note, maybe he should set a different course for the Taichou and the substitute Shinigami. They would get nothing out of the class if they had to go at the same pace as their classmates. Oh, well. He would think of something.

HP/B

The weeks passed slowly. Classes were the same as usual, but Hitsugaya felt uneasy. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something in the school that shouldn't be. He had tried searching the school, still continued to search, but so far had turned up nothing.

Tonight was the human holiday of Halloween. Hitsugaya did not see the point behind the day. What point was in a holiday that was for scaring others, dressing in silly costumes, and gorging on candy?

Hitsugaya sat in the Great Hall reluctantly during the Halloween Feast. He had to partake in a great quest to find plates of actual food amidst all the piles of sugar incarnate. He scowled, hoping to escape soon.

Suddenly, Hitsugaya furrowed his eyebrows. His sense of unease had risen. He stood abruptly, ignoring the few whispers he could hear. He made his way out of the Hall as nonchalant as he could manage, not wanting to attract unwanted attention.

He exited the Hall, but frowned when he notice that he had been followed. Not sensing any malicious intent, he ignored the human and followed his feeling of unease.

He made it to the second floor. Walking along cautiously, he suddenly came upon water. The floor was completely flooded. Not caring that his robes would probably get wet, Hitsugaya continued down the corridor.

Suddenly, he heard the disembodied voice again. Frowning, he hurried forward. The figure behind him also quickened his pace.

Hitsugaya stopped short, however, when he came upon a strange scene. The caretaker's cat, Mrs. Norris, was hung by its tail on a bracket on the wall. He approached cautiously, taking note of what looked like a message on the opposite wall.

He frowned again. The cat didn't appear dead, he could still sense the faint Reiatsu in it, but it was completely frozen. Well, whatever had done that to the cat had frightened the thing, if its expression was anything to go by.

He turned his back on the creature to study the message on the wall. His frown deepened as he approached the stone. "'The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the Heir, beware.'"

He reached out a hand and brushed his fingers against the letters. He pulled it back and rubbed his thumb against his fingertips. The substance was still wet. He brought his fingers to his nose and sniffed at the stuff.

The student who had followed him spoke up at this point. "It looks like blood."

Hitsugaya spared a glance at the boy. It was another Slytherin, then, and in his year, too, if he remembered correctly. "It's not blood. The perpetrator might have wanted it to appear that way, but it's only red paint. It's still wet so it happened not long ago."

There was a sudden rumbling of voices and steps. The Feast had been let out. Hitsugaya stepped away from the wall. "Something tells me it wouldn't be a good idea to be caught here."

The other boy nodded his head, but it was too late. A group of students were headed down the hall. Hitsugaya crossed his arms and made an annoyed sound. They had already spotted him.

When the group was close enough, the students noticed the cat and the message. Halting, there were whispers and a crowd grew.

All too soon, Filch appeared, searching for the source of the backed up hallway. The man stopped short and gapped wordlessly. He stumbled forward. "Mrs. Norris… Who? Who did this to you?"

The man looked around almost frantically before spotting Hitsugaya standing next to the message on the wall. He stormed forward. "You! It was you wasn't it! You killed her!"

Yelling incomprehensively, the caretaker grabbed at Hitsugaya's collar. The white haired Taichou glared at the man. "Unhand me at once. I did not do anything to your cat. And she's not dead."

The man didn't let go. Instead, he tightened his grip and started calling him a liar, threatening to hang him by his thumbs in the dungeons.

Dumbledore suddenly appeared. "Argus!"

The Caretaker reluctantly let go of Hitsugaya's collar. The white haired Shinigami straightened his robes, leveling an icy glare at the old caretaker. He did not appreciate the manhandling.

HP/B

And he did not appreciate false accusations. At least this time it wasn't liable to get him killed. He, the other Slytherin boy, Zabini, and several of the professors were standing in Lockhart's office.

The fraud was rambling on about how he could have saved the cat if he had been there, while Dumbledore was examining the mangy creature.

Hitsugaya crosses his arms in irritation. "I did not do anything to the cat. It's not even dead. Will you let me go? I would like to go back to my dormitory."

Dumbledore looked up at him. "Mr. Potter is quite right. Mrs. Norris is not dead. She is only Petrified."

This caused Lockhart to halt in his ramblings before starting on another one about how he knew that the cat wasn't dead and he knew a countercharm that could have saved the creature. He was growing irritating very quickly.

Dumbledore looked at Hitsugaya over the frame of his glasses. "Why did you leave the Feast, Mr. Potter? Any why were you found by the scene?"

Hitsugaya was silent for a moment. "I felt there was something wrong so I went to investigate. My feelings were not unfounded when I discovered Mrs. Norris and the writing on the wall."

"Why did you not notify any of the professors?"

"There was not time too."

Zabini spoke up. "I will vouch for him, Headmaster. The hall was like that when we arrived."

Dumbledore was silent as he assessed the two Slytherin students. Finally, he nodded. "Very well. You may return to your dormitory, boys."

HP/B

Blaise followed a few steps behind Potter as they made their way down to the Slytherin Common room. The corridor was silent except for the sound of their steps echoing off the stone walls. Potter suddenly spoke, though. "Why did you follow me?"

Blaise wasn't surprised at the question. He stayed silent, pondering an answer. Was it too soon to offer friendship? He could always go for the partial truth. "When you left the Feast, I had a feeling that something had happened. I followed you; there was no thought to my actions."

"You're a Slytherin; you wouldn't want to risk your own neck without proper planning."

Blaise chuckled. "You're sharp. I like you." The two were silent for a short while before Blaise started speaking again. "What do you think is going on?"

Potter was quiet before he turned his head slightly to glance back at Blaise. "I don't know, but I intend to find out."

"Can I be of service?"

"What is the gain for you?"

"You're very observant."

"I have to be."

Blaise wondered at that. What did Potter mean by that? Well, he supposed it was about time to ease a friendship on Potter. He could start by sitting by him in classes and at meal times.

All too soon, they arrived back at the entrance to the common room. Potter spoke the password, "Morte."

They entered to find the common room filled with students. Hitsugaya frowned when Malfoy stepped forward. The blonde smirked. "So, Potter, did you get expelled?"

Hitsugaya just stared at the boy. After a few minutes, the blonde shifted slightly, uncomfortable. Hitsugaya resisted the urge to snort and brushed past Malfoy, not in the mood for any taunting. The boy, though, threw out one last comment. "Maybe Potter is the Heir of Slytherin!"

Hitsugaya ignored him in favor of returning to the 2nd year dorm. There, he sat down on his bed. Zabini lay down on his own bed. The room was silent for several minutes.

"Do you have any information on what he was talking about?"

Blaise turned his head to look at Potter. The boy had moved to sit cross-legged on his bed, his arms folded over his chest. "You grew up in the muggle world, didn't you?"

"You could say that."

Blaise nodded. "You saw what the message said, right? There is a myth that our founder, Salazar Slytherin, built a secret chamber somewhere in the school and put a monster in it. Only Salazar's Heir can open the Chamber and release whatever is within it."

HP/B

Well, wasn't this just a lovely school? Some kid in his House, Colin Creevey, was laying in the Hospital Wing Petrified along with Filch's cat. And now the fraud of a DADA sensei was going to be teaching a dueling class.

Ichigo groaned as he stood with Hermione and Ron. This really wasn't a great year so far. He snuck a glance over at Shirou. The Taichou was standing near the dueling platform. A boy in his House stood next to him. He frowned as the boy made some comment to Shirou. Ichigo noticed a flash of amusement in Shirou's eyes. He scowled at that. He was not jealous damnit!

He continued to scowl as Fraud-san "demonstrated" the proper way to _not_ defend yourself. Hermione glanced over at him. "Ichigo? Is there something wrong?"

Ron snorted. "Hermione, he's probably just irritated that Lockhart is teaching this class." Hermione huffed in irritation

Ichigo mumbled something that sounded like, "Yeah, that's the reason."

Hermione didn't look convinced. She frowned slightly on concern, though Ichigo didn't notice. Shirou had just hopped onto the platform, though he didn't look happy about it. He faced off against a smirking Malfoy.

"Scared, Potter?" Oh, Ichigo wanted to wipe that smirk off Malfoy's face. Maybe Shirou would teach him a new Kidou?

Shirou raised an eyebrow but didn't respond to Malfoy's taunt. Ichigo wondered why he was so irritated.

Ichigo shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He turned his attention back to the duel right on time to see Malfoy cast a spell. "Serpensorptia!"

A large snake burst from his wand and landed, hissing on the floor. Ichigo's eyes widened as it rose and its hood flared out. A cobra! Was Malfoy nuts?! Someone could get bit! And so help him if it decided to bite Shirou.

Fraud-san, being the buffoon he was, tried to banish the snake but failed miserably. Instead, the snake became angry, it started slithering towards a bunch of students who froze in fear. A sudden hissing voice cut through the silence. Ichigo's eyes snapped to Shirou. The white haired Shinigami was standing there almost calmly, hissing at the snake. The snake halted in its course and turned its head toward the hissing Shinigami. Ichigo was speechless. Well, this was different.

The silence in the Hall was thick with tension. Snape stepped forwards and in a voice with a barely noticeable quiver, uttered a banishing spell. Ichigo had a bad feeling as he looked around the Hall. The students' faces were shocked and none too friendly and it was all directed at Shirou.

HP/B

Hitsugaya was sitting in the Common room next to the fireplace. Zabini sat nearby, doing his homework. The two had decided to return from the Christmas Feast early. The students were starting to return though. It was sometime later that Malfoy entered with Crabbe and Goyle in tow. Hitsugaya frowned though. Goyle and Crabbe's Reiatsu was different, and he recognized the Reiatsu that was coming off of Goyle. And it sure wasn't Goyle's own Reiatsu.

He stood up and made his way over to where the three were seated. "Crabbe, Goyle, come with me."

Malfoy looked up and sneered. "What do you want, Potter."

"That is none of your business. Come, you two."

Hitsugaya turned on his heel and led the two out of the common room. When the door closed, Hitsugaya turned to level a stare at Crabbe and Goyle. He crossed his arms and said nothing. The two boys quickly began fidgeting. It was then that Hitsugaya spoke. "What do you think you are doing, Kurosaki?"

The figure of Goyle froze. "W-What are you talking about?"

"_I can sense your Reiatsu, Kurosaki. For all your improvement, you still ooze Reiatsu and it is very distinct. I don't care what kind of illusion you have used to mask your appearance, you are not able to change your Reiatsu._ Now, what do you think you are doing?"

The figure of Goyle sighed. "Ron and Hermione thought that maybe you or Malfoy was the Heir of Slytherin. They thought you were because of your ability to talk to snakes. They called it Parseltongue I think. They also thought it could be Malfoy because apparently the Chamber has been opened before, 50 years ago. Malfoy's grandfather could have opened it before."

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed slightly as he filed the information away for later. "You're back to square one then, Kurosaki. I'm not the one doing this. "

Kurosaki interrupted with a muttered, "I never thought you were."

Hitsugaya glared at him and continued. "I highly doubt it was Malfoy either. He is not the one doing this. Now, take your friend and stay out of the Slytherin common room." With that, Hitsugaya opened the door and entered the common room, slamming it shut behind him.

Malfoy stared at him as he walked past. "What happened to Goyle and Crabbe?"

"They said they had to go do something."

Malfoy sneered. "You really think that I'm going to buy that excuse?! Did you do something to them?!"

Blaise rolled his eyes and shot a mild stinging hex at the blonde. "Would you shut up already, Malfoy? Stay off of Potter's case."

Malfoy yelped as the hex hit him. "That was uncalled for! When my father-"

"I don't care about your father, Malfoy. Grow up, daddy can't always help you out. You need to think for yourself."

Blaise left Malfoy gapping as he followed Potter into the 2nd year dormitory. He resisted the urge to snort. Serves the idiot right.

HP/B

Hitsugaya was sitting in the back of the Charms classroom. Zabini was sitting next to him. He had noted that the boy had taken to sitting next to him at meals and during class. The black haired boy had also been following him around. He focused on the sensei though when he started talking.

Professor Flitwick gave a happy smile. "I thought that we would have a small change of pace today. You have all been working so hard lately I thought that I would give you a treat." The class started whispering excitedly. The professor held up a hand to stop the chatter before speaking again. "This is an easy charm so most of you should be able to do it. Its purpose is to show a person's so-called spirit guide. Most of the time it is an animal of some sort. The incantation is _ostendo sum phasmatis rector_. The wand movement is a sharp flick to the right and then a sharp flick down. You will all do it one at a time so that the room doesn't get crowded with all the spirit guides. Why don't you go first, Mr. Thomas?"

The Gryffindor boy stood up and slowly said the incantation and performed the wand movements. A small monkey appeared on the desk before him. 'Hello. My name is ******._'_

The boy frowned. "I'm sorry what did you say? I couldn't hear your name."

The monkey only bowed and then vanished. Hitsugaya's eyes widened slightly. They were forcing a materialization of their Zanpaktou!

One by one the students performed the charm. Some students were able to force a materialization of their zanpaktou, but there were others who couldn't, meaning that they did not have strong zanpaktou or strong Reiatsu.

Soon, Ichigo was called up. He gripped his wand as he stood. He preformed the charm and watched as both Hichigo and Zangetsu materialized. The Reiatsu also seemed to grow heavier in the room. Oh, boy.

Most of the students gapped. Ichigo had _two_ spirit guides and they weren't even animals either! One was an albino. He looked extremely similar to Ichigo, only he was older looking. The other was a slightly ragged looking brown-haired man in a black coat and sunglasses. The albino spirit guide gave a crazy looking grin. _'Hey, King! Ya haven't visited me in awhile!' _Zangetsu was silent.

A vein in Ichigo's forehead popped. "_Shut up you crazy Hollow and just disappear already!"_

The Hollow laughed and then disappeared. Zangetsu continued to stare at Ichigo. "_I thought that he disappeared! I defeated him."_

'_You did defeat him, Ichigo, but he is still a part of you. You can control him, but he won't disappear.'_

With that, Zangetsu disappeared. Flitwick-sensei cleared his throat. "How unusual, Mr. Kurosaki. I have never seen two spirit guides before."

Ichigo sat down and mumbled, "Yeah? Well, I'm special."

Hitsugaya eyed the boy. He had known that Kurosaki was a Vaizard, but this was his first experience in seeing the Hollow. The boy was a powerful Shinigami.

Blaise stood up. He hoped that he was one of the ones with a spirit guide. He carefully pronounced the incantation and performed the wand movements. He watched as a large white Siberian tiger materialized in front of him The magic in the air also seemed to thicken like it had when Kurosaki's spirit guides had appeared, thought it wasn't quite to the scale Kurosaki's had been. The tiger was abnormally large and its stripes were a dark purple instead of black. The large cat inclined his head. 'Hello, Blaise Zabini. My name is S*o**se.'

Blaise frowned. He couldn't hear the entire name. Why was that? The large cat inclined its head once more and then disappeared.

Hitsugaya appraised Blaise. When he died, he had the potential to become a strong Shinigami, and in the present world he would make a strong 'wizard'. Breaking from his thoughts, he stood up. He hesitated for a few seconds. He didn't particularly want to reveal Hyourinmaru's real form to anyone.

Tightening his grip on his wand, he performed the spell. Immediately, the temperature dropped as Hyourinmaru's icy Reiatsu materialized. The large zanpaktou wrapped its form in a circle around where Hitsugaya was standing. Hitsugaya allowed a tiny smile to appear on his lips as he set a hand on Hyourinmaru's icy form. The dragon lingered for a few more seconds before disappearing. The temperature returned to normal.

Many of the students were staring in slight awe. The spirit guide was largest that had appeared and it had been a _dragon._ Not to mention that it wasn't like a normal dragon. This one was made entirely of ice.

Blaise was a little irritated. It was yet _another_ riddle to the list of riddles that made up the enigma of Harry Potter. He had to admit though, that the dragon was quite amazing. Potter was a powerful wizard.

HP/B

The months passed and the attacks continued. So far, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Nearly Headless Nick, Hermione Granger, and Penelope Clearwater had all been Petrified. Hitsugaya was getting sick of this. What was going on in this school? He had just found out, from Hisagi, that the Weasley girl had been taken into the Chamber.

That's it. He was going to put a stop to this. He frowned. Where would the entrance to the Chamber be? He had a hunch, now was the time to see if he was right. He slipped out of the Slytherin common room and started down the hallway. After some time though, he paused. "Why are you following me, Zabini?"

The boy hesitated before walking up to him. "You're searching for the Chamber aren't you? I will help you."

Hitsugaya didn't reply. He only started back down the corridor. The two walked in silence until they reached the second floor. Zabini spoke. "What are you thinking, Potter?"

"Myrtle's Bathroom."

Blaise raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. A bathroom? And a girls' bathroom no less. Suddenly there came the footsteps of another person. The two froze, but it was too late to hide. The person who appeared was Lockhart. He gave them a charming smile. "You boys are supposed to be in your common room."

"We found the Chamber of Secrets."

Found? He didn't even know that for sure. Was Potter that sure of himself? The fraud started speaking. "Oh! How splendid, boys! Why don't we go to the Headmaster, then?"

Hitsugaya ignored him and started back towards the bathroom. Zabini followed him. Lockhart hesitated before coming to a decision about something. He followed after the boys saying, "I can't let you kids go all by yourselves!"

In the bathroom, Hitsugaya began to examine the sinks. "What are you doing, Potter?" Hitsugaya didn't spare Zabini a glance, but answered him. "I believe the entrance is here. Since the beginning of the year I've been hearing voices in the walls. I believe that to be the monster of the Chamber and was using the pipes to roam the school. I also believe it to be a snake of some sort, because of my Parselmouth abilities. The question was where was the entrance? Ideally, it would be a bathroom, and I knew that the Chamber had been opened once before and last time a student died. I believe the entrance to be here." He stood back. "Found it." He then hissed in Parseltongue.

There was a rumbling and a grinding sound. Slowly, a sink fell away to reveal a large pipe. Hitsugaya turned to Lockhart. "You wanted to come. Why don't you make yourself useful?"

He gestured toward the pipe and the suddenly nervous Lockhart stepped forward hesitantly. "Now, boys, why don't we think about this for a moment?"

Hitsugaya's eye twitched at the word 'boys', and he gave an icy glare at the fraud. Misinterpreting the glare, Lockhart gulped and jumped down the pipe. Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow and also jumped down the pipe. Zabini hesitated before jumping down after him.

HP/B

The trio was making their way through the tunnel cautiously. At one point, Hitsugaya stopped and turned to the other two. He looked at Lockhart. "You sure you are brave enough to do this? You look ready to bolt. There is some sort of monster down here."

Lockhart had a conflicted look on his face. Suddenly, though he came to a decision. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Potter. Blaise noted that the boy stood there calmly. The fraud started speaking. "Now that I know where the entrance to the Chamber is, I can seal it off. We don't have to go any farther, if I seal off the entrance the monster will never be able to leave. The Weasley girl will be a poor victim. I, sadly, couldn't save her. And at the sight of her mangled body, you two tragically lost your minds."

"You are a fraud. You erase memories, then, and pretend that the things done were done by you?"

Lockhart threw him a distasteful look. "You are very observant, Mr. Potter. But now, say goodbye to your memories. _Obliviate!"_

Hitsugaya unleashed his Reiatsu. Even with his Limiter on, his Reiatsu was far greater than Lockhart's. His icy blue Reiatsu swirled around him, shielding him from the spell and deflecting it on to Lockhart. Hitsugaya quickly and easily reined in his Reiatsu. However, the explosion from the spell and his unleashed Reiatsu caused the walls to crumble.

Hitsugaya and Zabini both moved quickly out of the way as the rocks fell. When the dust settled, Hitsugaya was further down the tunnel and large boulders blocked the entrance. He looked around to see that Zabini was nowhere to be found. He climbed the boulders to a small opening. "Zabini!"

Blaise coughed as the dirt cleared. He saw Lockhart smiling vacantly and happily off to the side and Potter was nowhere to be found. Had the boy been crushed? He heard his name suddenly. He looked up to see Potter's face at a small hole. "I'm fine. Unfortunately, so is the fraud."

Hitsugaya thought for a moment. "Move these rocks as best as you can. I will continue down the tunnel."

Zabini nodded slowly. "Fine, but don't get yourself killed."

Hitsugaya couldn't suppress a snort. He received an odd look from Zabini but he brushed it off. Climbing down the stones, he continued down the tunnel and soon came to a door. Hissing at it, the giant metal door creaked open.

He carefully looked around at his surroundings. Carvings of snakes lined the stone walls dripping with moisture. A large statue was at the far end of the Chamber. He raised an eyebrow. Was that a depiction of the Slytherin founder?

He spotted a small form lying on the floor and hurried forward. It was the small red-headed Weasley girl. He frowned as he dropped to his knees and placed a hand on her cheek. The girl was far too cold and hr breathing was shallow. She wasn't Petrified, so what was wrong with her?

"She won't awaken."

Hitsugaya stood and whipped around. "Who are you? What are you doing here? What do you mean?"

The boy looked to him. "I have been waiting for you, Harry Potter."

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. "What are you? You are neither a ghost nor alive."

"Memories, trapped in a diary for 50 years."

Hitsugaya glanced at a small leather-bound book lying near the girl's body. He took note of it. "Who are you? What do you want with me?"

The boy only smirked and said nothing. He raised a wand, probably the girl's, and scratched fiery letters into the air. TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE. He flicked the wand and the letters started to rearrange themselves. Slowly, they formed I AM LORD VOLDEMORT.

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. Voldemort. "You did all this just because you want to kill me?"

Voldemort gained a furious look on his face. "How is it that a mere infant was able to defeat the greatest sorcerer in the world?!"

Hitsugaya snorted. "I'd like to see you try to stand against Yamamoto-soutaichou."

Voldemort gave him a furious glance before whipping around to face the giant statue. "Let's see how Harry Potter fares against Slytherin's monster!"

Hissing, the statue's mouth gapped open and a giant snake slithered out. Moving around the fallen girl at the base of statue, the snake started towards Hitsugaya. Voldemort continued to hiss at the snake, ordering it to kill him. Hitsugaya tightened his grip on his wand. This thing was monstrous, but he had defeated worse Hollows in the past.

He appraised his opponent, when his eyes settled on the thing's eyes. He was about to raise his wand when a sudden pain assaulted his body. His back arched and he stifled a cry of pain. Voldemort started laughing. Hitsugaya idly wondered if this was the snake's power. He hadn't thought to think that it was the snake's eyes, though.

His vision blurred and suddenly he was separated from his gigai. He fell forward and fell on his hands and knees, panting. He quickly pushed his gigai to the side, hoping that it wasn't going to get squashed by the giant snake.

Voldemort's laughs were cut off immediately. He glared at Hitsugaya. "What sort of magic is this?!"

Hitsugaya glared at Voldemort in return and drew Hyourinmaru. The zanpaktou was a welcome and familiar weight in his hand. "A power you will never have, Voldemort."

He leapt towards the snake and tightened his hold on Hyourinmaru. Slicing at the monster, he barely injured the creature. He frowned. The snake's hide was very tough. He released some of his Reiatsu, strengthening Hyourinmaru's blade. He left at the monster again, avoiding its strikes and gaping jaw. He sliced along the snake's side, causing it to writhe in pain.

He continued to cut at the snake, trying to avoid injury himself. At one point the snake's tail hit him and he was slammed into the stone wall. He grunted as his back hit the unyielding stone. Wiping away a line of blood from his mouth, he attacked the monster one last time. Slamming Hyourinmaru's blade through the top of the snake's giant head, he used Reiatsu to strengthen and sharpen Hyourinmaru's blade. It slid in easily.

He quickly leapt away as the snake started thrashing around in pain before finally crumbling to the floor where it landed with a thud and lay still.

Hitsugaya sheathed Hyourinmaru and faced a fuming Voldemort. The wizard sneered. "Well, no matter. The girl will be dead soon, and Lord Voldemort will return!" He smirked. "Funny had much damage a diary can do it the hands of a silly little girl."

Hitsugaya was struck with a thought. He continued to stare at Voldemort. The boys smirk widened, but it quickly vanished when Hitsugaya suddenly blurred and vanished to his vision.

He whirled around to find Hitsugaya standing next to the girl with Hyourinmaru unsheathed once more. The boy opened his mouth to yell, but Hitsugaya thrust the zanpaktou through the center of Voldemort's diary.

Voldemort cried out in pain as ink spurted out of the diary almost like blood from an open wound. The boy vanished, exploding outward.

HP/B

Hitsugaya stood in Dumbledore's office. The Weasley's had already left with their daughter and Zabini had been sent back to the Slytherin common room.

"How did you defeat the monster, Mr. Potter?"

He couldn't reveal that he was a Shinigami, so he would have to lie. "I didn't, Headmaster. I realized that the diary was the source from where Voldemort was coming from, and I was able to destroy the diary before he could call the monster."

Dumbledore nodded, but he didn't look quite convinced. He let it go, however.

HP/B

Hitsugaya sat in an empty compartment on the Hogwarts express. The rest of the year had gone by quickly and the Petrified students had been revived. Slytherin had been awards points because of what he and Zabini had done. The fraud had been shipped off to St. Mungo's, a wizard hospital, when it was realized that he had lost all his memories.

Suddenly, the door opened and Zabini came. He shut the door behind him sat in one of the seats. "What are you doing for the summer, Potter?"

"I will be going to back to Japan."

Zabini nodded. "I'll probably just spend time at out manor house, though my parents were thinking of taking a trip this summer." He smiled. "Maybe I'll come visit you."

Hitsugaya snorted. It was highly unlikely that he would see the other over the summer, but let him think what he wanted.

The door slid open again. Hitsugaya turned his head to see Kurosaki, the Weasley boy, and Granger standing there. Weasley looked uncomfortable. "I want to thank you for saving my sister, Potter." He suddenly looked angry and yelled out, "But don't think that I like you or anything now!"

He stormed off with Granger close behind him. Kurosaki stayed paused and turned towards Hitsugaya. "Do you really not see me as your friend, Shirou?"

Hitsugaya turned his head, missing Kurosaki's sad look. He didn't know what to think of Kurosaki. The boy was persistent. "I don't know, Kurosaki."

The boy left wordlessly, leaving Hitsugaya to sit there confused with what he was feeling. Zabini stayed silent before saying. "Why did he call you Shirou?"

Hitsugaya gave an annoyed huff. "It means 'white' in Japanese. He calls me that because of my hair no matter what I tell him otherwise."

Blaise snorted. Potter really didn't look as annoyed as he said he was. He turned his head to look out the window. Now was the summer, but what would next year bring?

HP/B

_Finally done! Phew… This took me so long to write! I know it's a little rushed at the end, but I wanted to get this posted. What do you all think of the chapter?_

_Please take the time to review! That button down there is so lonely…_


	7. Chapter 7

_All of my readers whom keep telling me that I shouldn't make this a yaoi, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I had long ago decided that this was going to be a yaoi. If you don't like it, then I'm sorry but it's my story. Just no flames!_

_Finally getting around to typing out the next chapter! Sorry my faithful readers, but things have been hectic, so I have little time to write! But enough with the excuses… here's the next chapter!_

_Disclaimer: Would I really be writing a fanfic if I owned Bleach or Harry Potter? Think now…_

**Chapter 7**

It was official. He hated train rides.

"You all right, Ichigo?"

The orange haired boy waved the question aside. "I'll just be glad to get back to Japan."

Ichigo stretched out on the bench and closed his eyes. His thoughts gradually made their way towards the subject of Shirou. He frowned. What was it about the Taichou that made him act so out of character, damnit?! He pushed it aside, brushing it off as his loyalty for his friends and being around immature kids too long. He wanted to look sixteen again, damnit. Well, the 12th Division had given him a special gigai to make him look younger until the mission was over. He wondered, though. Was this how Shirou felt? Being trapped in a kid's body, that is.

Okay. Stop there. He needed to get his mind away from Shirou. The Taichou seemed not to want his friendship, so what? He wasn't going to let it bother him anymore… Not that it had bothered him in the past, damnit!

Right, new subject. He was looking forward to seeing Sado and Inoue again. He even missed Ishida some. He would have to go to Soul Society first, though. At least he would be able to see Renji and Rukia. From there, he would most likely be posted back in Karakura Town where he would need to see Urahara about a gigai.

Gigai. He would prefer his own body, but it was lying buried in the ground. Some punk ass bastard with a grudge against him had shot him. Dead. Just like that. He wasn't a representative Shinigami anymore. Now, to protect his family and friends he needed to use a gigai, if he absolutely needed to be seen. Of course, it needed to be slightly disguised. It wouldn't do for Karakura to see a "dead man" walking. He looked even more like Shiba Kaien now while in the gigai. He wasn't exactly happy over it. He liked his orange hair, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"Ichigo!"

The teen blinked and turned his head towards the other two in the compartment. "What?"

"You sure you are all right? We've been calling you for the past few minutes."

"I'm fine. I was just thinking. What did you need?"

"We only wanted to know what you were doing this summer."

Ichigo shrugged. "I have friends back home. Hopefully there won't be any crises, though."

Hermione looked slightly worried. "Crises? What do you mean by that?"

Ichigo grimaced. "Nothing important, actually. It's just small problems we call crises."

Hermione nodded. "Oh." There was an awkward pause, before Hermione spoke again. "Oh, well, I'm visiting France with my parents this summer. How about you, Ron? Anything exciting?"

Ron blushed. "My family is kind of poor, so we aren't going anywhere special."

Ichigo looked out the window. "Don't worry about it, Ron." He paused. "We're almost back at the station. We should change."

Later, after they had departed the train, Ichigo said goodbye to Hermione and Ron. He, then, went in search of Urahara to pass off his gigai to the ex Shinigami. When he found him, Shirou was already there. Urahara smiled at him and led the way towards a small apartment. There, they left their gigai and trunks minus their homework. Shirou, then, opened a gate to Soul Society. Before they went through, Urahara placed a seal on the gate. The image shimmered and the two went through.

After several long minutes of walking, Ichigo started grumbling mentally. This was just too boring. Why didn't Shirou talk to him? Was he still ignoring him? Well, why did he even care? Che… Whatever. Why did they have to walk so far anyways?

"We have to walk from England to the Japanese Soul Society, Kurosaki. It's going to take time. Surely you are not that stupid."

It took Ichigo a few seconds to realize that he had asked the last question out loud. Ichigo scowled but said nothing, not willing to get into a fight with Shirou.

It was a while later before they finally saw the end of the passage. All too soon, they passed through the gateway. Not even pausing to exchange greetings with the guards, Shirou made his way towards the 1st Division to give his report to the Soutaichou. He, Ichigo, had to go report in to his Division first before going to see the Soutaichou.

His Division. That still sounded on even after more than a year of being 3rd seat of Division 13. Using shunpo, he made his way towards 13th Division barracks. He was soon standing in front of Ukitake-taichou's office. He was let in by a bickering. Eyeing them, he turned to his Taichou. "I don't see how you can deal with them all day."

The Taichou smiled, sipping at his tea. "You just returned, yes? You haven't seen the Soutaichou yet, have you?"

Ichigo shook his head. "Shirou gives his report first. I'll go later."

Ukitake-taichou nodded. Ichigo noted that he looked overly happy about something. Ichigo dismissed it and sat down. "Anything in the Division that I need to know about?"

Ukitake-taichou chuckled. "There are a few things, but you'll be filled in later. For now, why don't you have some tea with me?"

Ichigo blinked, but couldn't turn down his taichou's request. He accepted a cup of tea from the grinning man.

"How was the school this year, Ichigo-kun?"

Ichigo blinked and looked up from his tea. "It was alright. It's school, no matter how weird the classes are. There was an incident with a so called Chamber of Secrets that was opened. There was some sort of monster in it that was attacking the students, making them become Petrified. Basically it was like they were living statues of sorts. They were cured at the end of the year and the Chamber was closed. I think Shirou had a hand in fighting the monster and closing the Chamber."

Ukitake smiled at the use of 'Shirou' by Ichigo before asking, "What of your training in Kidou?"

Ichigo frowned thoughtfully, swirling the cup in his hands. "It's going well, I guess. Shirou hasn't told me otherwise at least. I can control my Reiatsu much better now, though I still have problems containing it when I'm fighting."

Ukitake nodded and his smile widened. "I did notice that your Reiatsu was much better contained. Very good job. Hitsugaya-taichou must be a good teacher for you to be able to get this far. I had been worried that you wouldn't be able to do it well, because of your massive Reiatsu and lack of any sort of formal training." He paused and took a sip of his tea before grinning at Ichigo. "But, you have managed to surprise me once again."

It was some time later before a Hell butterfly appeared, informing Ichigo that Shirou had finished his report and the Soutaichou was waiting for him. Ichigo stood and bid his Taichou a farewell before disappearing with a Shunpo. Ukitake set down his cup and grinned. "So, Ichigo, what will you do?"

HP/B

Ichigo refrained from fidgeting nervously. Being so powerful, sometimes it was a little uncomfortable standing in the same room as the Soutaichou. Thankfully, he had a good bit of power himself, so the feeling was lessened. Still, it could be uncomfortable standing in the same room for long amounts at a time.

He snapped out of his thoughts as the doors to the Soutaichou's office opened. Steeling himself, Ichigo stepped through, and walked into the room. The soutaichou stood at his balcony, with his back to him. Ichigo stood there silently, waiting for the old man to speak.

"Hitsugaya-taichou tells me that he has continued to teach you Reiatsu control, but otherwise you two do not interact unless necessary."

Ichigo gained a moody look on his face. "Not my fault he doesn't want anything to do with me."

He heard a slight chuckle from the Soutaichou before the old man started speaking. "Your report?"

Ichigo took a breath before giving his report in a monotone voice. He spoke for several long minutes before finishing. When he stopped speaking, he fell silent waiting for the Soutaichou to dismiss him.

"It's only your second year and yet you have already seen two separate adventures. You were not sent there for this particular reason, but protect the students if needed. Most of our interaction with humans is limited to protecting them from Hollows, but I have a feeling that your presence, along with Hitsugaya-taichou will be needed in the near future. Hisagi-fukutaichou will also continue to teach at Hogwarts. He will act as a liaison between me and all Shinigami at Hogwarts. I have already informed Hitsugaya-taichou."

Ichigo nodded eager to leave. However, the Soutaichou turned around to face him. "Kurosaki Ichigo. You have been a full Shinigami for three years now, correct?"

Unsure of where this was going, Ichigo nodded. The Soutaichou opened his eyes, looking at him. "Central 46 does not feel like you have enough experience yet to be a Taichou of the Goteijuusentai. However, they are bestowing on you, with my recommendation, the rank of fukutaichou of the 13th squad."

HP/B

Ichigo wandered the streets in a daze. He wandered aimlessly, mulling over what had happened. Yamamoto-soutaichou had said that he could refuse the appointment, but Ichigo felt like he couldn't refuse. Fukutaichou. He would be a fukutaichou of the Goteijuusentai. It was mind boggling. Him, in a position of authority? Well, then again, if they put Renji in the fukutaichou position…

Speak of the devil…

"Yo, Ichigo!"

…And the devil shall appear.

"Renji."

"Yo, man, what's up with you? Aren't you excited to be away from all those brats?"

Ichigo nodded absently. Watching him, Renji frowned. "Something happen, Ichi?"

Ichigo shrugged. "Hey, Renji, what's it like being a fukutaichou?"

Renji blinked, but answered him. "Well, there is more responsibility. There is paperwork to be done, and you need to take on the duties of the Taichou as well if something happens to your Taichou. You have to help around the squad, like training the members. If there is an emergency in the Seireitei, it's usually the fukutaichou who are delivering the orders from the Taichou. There's a lot more to it, but that's it in a nutshell. There's a lot of work involved, but I think it's a pretty rewarding job. Why do you ask, Ichi? Want to take over my job as a fukutaichou?" Renji laughed at his own joke, but quickly stopped when he saw that Ichigo wasn't laughing along with him. "Ok, what the hell is wrong with you, Ichigo!?"

Ichigo waved him off and started to walk away. "I'll tell you later, Renji. I got some stuff to think about. Ja."

Renji was left staring after Ichigo with a face that just about screamed, 'what the hell?'

HP/B

Ukitake looked up as he felt Ichigo's presence enter the room. He smiled at the slightly dazed look that the man still sported. "Ichigo-san. I take it the soutaichou told you?"

Ichigo nodded. Ukitake's smile widened. "Good, good. What did you say?"

"I accepted. I have to show up at the combined Taichou, fukutaichou meeting later today. There, I'll receive my fukutaichou badge." He paused. "Did that really just happen, Taichou?"

Ukitake looked positively gleeful. "Yup, it did. You know, I have never accepted a fukutaichou since Kaien died. Please remember that I didn't accept you as my fukutaichou because you look like him, I genuinely cannot think of a better person as my fukutaichou. And this way I get to groom you into an excellent taichou when the time comes!"

Ichigo eyed him. "I get the feeling like I need to be afraid of that statement…"

Ukitake only grinned at him and offered him a cup of tea.

The next hours were spent with the two drinking their tea and Ukitake answering questions he managed to coax out of Ichigo.

It was a few hours later that found the two Shinigami making their way towards the Taichou's hall for the combined Taichou-fukutaichou meeting. None of the Taichou seemed all that surprised to see him. Apparently, they had been warned that he was being offered the position. However, all of the fukutaichou apparently _hadn't _been warned.

Many of the fukutaichou wore expressions of shock. Renji in particular was unneededly vocal in his surprise. "Ichigo! What are you doing here? Did you get in trouble or something?"

Ichigo glared at him before turning his attention towards the Soutaichou, who had cleared his throat. "Recently, Ukitake-taichou came before me and nominated Kurosaki Ichigo for the position of his fukutaichou. I agreed with his nomination, but the approval of two Taichou was needed to present him with the position. All of the Taichou agreed on the promotion, but it was Hitsugaya-Taichou and Kenpachi-Taichou who gave their formal approval needed for Kurosaki Ichigo's promotion in rank."

Ichigo blinked and looked over at Shirou. The Taichou had gave his formal approval? The orange-haired Shinigami hid a smile. Even though the Taichou pretended not to, he really did like Ichigo.

The Soutaichou turned to his Soutaichou and gave him a short look before turning back to Ichigo. "Receive your badge proudly, Kurosaki-fukutaichou and serve your position in the manner fitting of your rank."

Choujirou stepped forward and held out a badge that proudly held the insignia of the 13th Division. Ichigo took it almost reverently into his hands and tied it securely onto his left arm. He gave a polite bow towards the Soutaichou before taking his place behind his Taichou.

Renji still had an unbecoming gape adorning his face, but he quickly composed himself. Ichigo, however, noted the look in the red head's eyes, promising a confrontation after the meeting had reached conclusion. Ichigo ignored him as best he could and focused on the meeting at hand.

It was several hours later that found Ichigo stumbling out of the meeting hall and trying to avoid a redhead on a mission aka Abarai Renji.

However, in his focus on trying to avoid Renji, he was instead accosted by another redhead… a redhead with massive breasts aka Matsumoto Rangiku.

"Ichiiii-kuuun," was his only warning before he was attacked by a certain fukutaichou, her giant appendages pressed against his back. There was a pout in her voice as she complained. "Why didn't you tell us you were going to become a fukutaichou, Ichi-kun?"

Ichigo struggled fruitlessly to escape her clutches. "I only just found out today, myself. They sprung it on me when I got back. Don't blame me! Don't let me go!"

Matsumoto giggled. "No way, Ichi-kun! You're coming with us to celebrate your promotion!"

Ichigo froze. "Who's 'us'?"

Matsumoto giggled again. "All the fukutaichou, of course! You've had sake before, right?"

Ichigo paled. Sake? He had never drunk sake before; he didn't know how well he could hold his liquor. He started to struggle again. "That's quite alright! You don't need me there! I'll just be leaving, then!"

But, Matsumoto would have none of it and pulled pour Ichigo off to a bar, most of the fukutaichou following behind them.

HP/B

The next morning, Ichigo was awoken by a cheerful Ukitake, a painful headache pounding his temples. Ukitake grinned at him. "Up and at'em, Ichigo-kun! It's your first day of fukutaichou duties. First on the agenda is paperwork! Get dressed and let's go!"

Ichigo groaned and got out of bed slowly as not to aggravate his headache. Dressing slowly. He eventually followed Ukitake-Taichou out to the Taichou's office. There, he was directed towards his new desk and a giant pile of paperwork was dropped down in front of him.

While Ichigo was gapping at the size of the pile, Ukitake ran through a series of directions for him in relation to the mound of paperwork. When he finished speaking, he returned to his own desk and mound of paperwork.

Ichigo groaned and pulled a paper towards him. As he started on it, he made a vow to get his revenge on Matsumoto for getting him drunk the night before. Almost crying he started on the paperwork, he set in for a long day. He didn't sign up for this nightmare.

Ukitake could only chuckle at Ichigo's expression. Kaien had a similar expression on his first day. To tell the truth, he was sure that most fukutaichou had similar reactions.

Later, when the paperwork for the day was finally finished, Ukitake sent Ichigo out to handle the new recruits. Poor Ichigo, it was a trial and a half.

It had started off easy enough. He had been set to evaluating the skill levels of the just recently graduated from the Shinigami Academy recruits. He set them to tests on the training grounds and observed. Another ranked officer was with him to observe the Kidou tests, but left soon after that test was done since it was the first one. After that, it all went down the drain.

He set off pairing off the new recruits, first. He, then, set them to fighting one pair at a time while he monitored. It went relatively well, though he needed to intervene a few times to prevent any deaths. Not to mention the fact that he needed to avoid several poorly aimed attacks.

When it really hit the fans was when a new recruit stepped forward and challenged him. Ichigo took a moment to examine the recruit. It was a girl and she was tall, about as tall as he. She had dark brown hair pulled into a high ponytail with long bangs framing her face (A/n: think hair similar to Kanda from -man). The straight strands swayed slightly behind her in the breeze along with the long strips of dark red ribbon that she used to keep it in place. Mismatched eyes held a fierce and determined expression. She had one blue eye and one grey eye, unusual but suited to her face. A black chocker was wrapped around her neck, the only decoration she added to her Shinigami attire.

Ichigo crossed his arms and asked her name. She grinned and replied. "Ketsueki Etsumi is my name, Berry-fukutaichou."

Ichigo's eye twitched and he groaned. Great… a female version of Renji.

"Hey! At least I'm smarter! Abarai-fukutaichou is so dense and slow. Aaaaand I can do a Kidou much better than he ever could."

Ichigo blinked. Apparently he had said that out loud. Shaking himself mentally he threw a slight glare at the girl. "That's Kurosaki-fukutaichou to you, Ketsueki."

"But you're name means strawberry doesn't it? So, thinking of that I decided to give you a nickname. What's so wrong with that, Berry-fukutaichou? Now are you going to fight me or not? Kenny-taichou says you are a great warrior!"

Ichigo's mind came to a screeching halt. Kenny-taichou? Kenpachi?! Who the hell calls him something similar besides Yachiru?! Who the hell was this girl?! "One question for you."

"Knock yourself out, Berry-fukutaichou."

Ichigo refrained from growling and asked, "Why the hell are you not in the 11th Division with Kenpachi?"

The girl shrugged and grinned. "Dunno… but who cares? Are we gunna fight or not Berry-fukutaichou? Or are you afraid of a girl beating you in a fight?"

Ichigo really did growl at this point. "Ok. Fine. If you want to fight with me then I'll go along with it. Just don't come whining to me when I prove too much for you and I beat you into the ground!"

The girl only grinned and drew her zanpaktou. Her hand was wrapped around the dark red bandages of the hilt. Not missing a beat from drawing, she ran two fingers along the light silver of the zanpaktou's blade. As she did so, she called out, "_Sanshi, Tsuki Shinku_!" ("Deep reflection, Crimson Moon!" if the translation is wrong please tell me!)

There was a swirl of deep red Reiatsu and the zanpaktou transformed in her hand to a longer blade with long silver tassels coming from the end of the hilt. Ichigo snorted. "That was anti-climatic."

Etsumi sniggered. "If you say so. Prepare yourself, Berry-fukutaichou!"

Grinning, but a bright gleam of determination burning in her eyes, she swung her zanpaktou in a tight circle causing sunlight to reflect off the blade. Ichigo had to shield his eyes and when he recovered, Etsumi had disappeared.

"_Kaisou tou!_" ("Reflection knife!")

Ichigo whirled around, Etsumi's voice calling from behind him. He was confronted by what looked to be beams of red light. Drawing Zangetsu quickly, he guarded himself against the onslaught. However, when the beams hit Zangetsu, he didn't even feel a tremor. Confused he lowered his zanpaktou, but still wary and on guard. That was when he felt sharp blades rip into his back and he was slammed forward.

Grunting, he stood back up, ignoring the warm liquid that he could feel sliding down his back. He glared up at a grinning Etsumi. "Having trouble there, Berry-fukutaichou?"

Ichigo snorted. "You wish. _Getsuga Tenshou!"_

Etsumi quickly used Shunpo to get out of the way of the oncoming attack, though she was caught in the arm. Grimacing at the blood now flowing down her arm, she quickly ignored it and unleashed another attack at Ichigo.

More of the red beams of light flew at Ichigo. Tensing at the similarities to the earlier attack, and the attack too fast to adequately Shunpo out of the way, he ignored the beams and turned to defend against the almost invisible silver beams that had been flying towards his back. However, the silver beams impacted harmlessly against Zangetsu and the red beams sliced through his back a split second later.

Etsumi giggled. "Which attack is the real one, Berry-fukutaichou? Two come at you, but which is real? Which one is the reflection?"

Clenching his jaw, Ichigo used Shunpo, trying to attack her too quickly for her to launch another of her own attacks. Etsumi was able to hold her own somewhat, though she was soon thrown back across the training field with a large gash across her torso. She struggled to stand, but when she did, she used Shunpo and called out, "_Kaisou tou!_"

Ichigo tensed and used his own Shunpo to get out of the path of the red and silver projectiles. He was taken by surprise, though, when they both fell harmlessly into the ground. He quickly whirled around to defend himself just in time against more silver beams that had been hurdling towards his back. A few of the projectiles slide past his defenses and slammed into his arms and chest.

Ichigo growled. Ok. It was time to end this. The girl was good, but this fight was over. Boosting more speed into his attacks and Shunpo, he attacked Etsumi.

Struggling to hold her own against Ichigo's more powerful attacks, she was eventually defeated. Ichigo could only sigh in relief. Maybe she would leave him alone now. Well, at least he could hope.

Having finally awoken from having been knocked unconscious, Etsumi slowly stood. She grinned at Ichigo. "You're an awesome sparring partner! Can we train everyday when you're not too busy?"

The orange haired fukutaichou groaned. Oh, no… Forget Renji… he would have to avoid her like he did Kenpachi, but this girl was in his own Division! He would probably see her every day! Could he go back to Hogwarts now? But summer had only just started… he could cry at the unfairness.

"And we all know that one day you will become a Taichou! You definitely have enough power to be one! I'm going to make it my mission to become your fukutaichou when you do!"

On the other side of Seireitei, Renji could have sworn that he heard a loud voice saying, "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" And it sounded oddly like Ichigo, but that should be impossible.

HP/B

The rest of the summer passed in a blur of paperwork and Division duties for both Ichigo and Toshirou. All too soon, it was time to return to the real world and Hogwarts along with it. However, before they left, they were called to the Soutaichou's office.

"I have heard news of the escape of an individual from one of the Wizarding prisons. Now, usually this would not affect you, but in this case it does. A one Sirius Black escaped from the Wizarding prison Azkaban. It is rumored that he worked for the wizarding dark lord Voldemort and was the one to betray your parents, Hitsugaya-Taichou. There is another rumor that he escaped to go after you. Be on your guard this year, Hitsugaya-Taichou. You as well, Kurosaki-fukutaichou. Hisagi-fukutaichou will be returning as well so if you have anything to report you can send it through him. You are dismissed."

As he left the office along with Kurosaki-fukutaichou, Hitsugaya felt like breaking his icy mask and groaning in frustration. He had a horrible feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong this year. How he hoped… pleaded that he was wrong.

HP/B

_Finally done with this chapter! It's so much harder to find time to write nowadays! I work every day so I'll try to find time when I can! Please review! The review button is starved of attention!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Disclaimer: this really is getting old… if I owned either Bleach or Harry Potter, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction about it…_

_Now, I have been getting complaints on why is Shirou-chan being placed back with the ones who killed him. Normally, I wouldn't place him back there either, but I have a reason to place him there (Really!). So, please deal with it for now, you'll see why sooner or later. Promise!_

"_Japanese"_

'_Japanese Zanpaktou speaking'_

"English"

'English Zanpaktou speaking'

**Chapter 8**

Hitsugaya sat once more on the top of the Astronomy Tower, knees pulled to his chest. The frigid presence of his Zanpakutou's form was wrapped around him. His cold mask was gone for the moment, having no reason to hide his emotions from Hyourinmaru. His face was turned towards the sky, but his mind was elsewhere.

Tonight they had returned to Hogwarts, but it wasn't without its difficulties. He and Kurosaki had once more spent the last week before school at his oh so wonderful relative's house. He snorted. They would likely rot in hell when they died, or become hollows, not that he cared either way. The Soutaichou's excuse was that they needed some time to get used to the mortal world first before they returned to school. They also needed to get their supplies from Diagon Alley. He, of course, didn't see why they couldn't just stay at the Leaky Cauldron. It was an Inn after all. But his complaints were staid by the expression in the Soutaichou's eyes. The man knew something, had a reason for placing them there. How irritating, but he could not go against the Soutaichou's orders.

It was on the Hogwarts Express that the real trouble began. It had started off well enough really. He had found an almost empty compartment that was only occupied by a sleeping man. There, Zabini had found him and made himself at home. Hitsugaya had pulled out a textbook and resigned himself to reading the entire trip, though Zabini tried to strike up a conversation every once in awhile.

It was when the sky grew dark with nightfall that the problems really started. Hitsugaya had immediately been on alert when the train gave a tremor and slowed to a stop. Trembling, the power had given out once the train had come to a halt. Knowing that there was no good reason for the train to have halted, Hitsugaya felt that there was something immensely wrong. Forgoing any sense of secrecy, he conjured a light using Kidou.

With that light, he was able to see that Zabini had pulled out his wand, and the man in the corner had awoken. Both were surprised by the red ball of light floating in his hand, but Hitsugaya ignored them for the time being. Immediately he ground out a question. "Any have an idea to what is going on?"

Zabini had frowned and shook his head. "No idea, Potter. The Express runs on magic, so there shouldn't be any reason for it to stop unless there is something ahead on the tracks, but that doesn't account for the power outage."

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed and addressed the older man. "How about you? Is there a conductor you can talk to?"

The man nodded and left without a word, looking too shocked at something to reply. After the man left, the two Slytherins sat tensely in their seats, waiting for the man to return.

Long minutes past. Hitsugaya and Zabini could hear students running in the corridor past the open door, crashing into walls and each other due to the lack of light.

Suddenly, there was a peak in the noise before everything was silent. Hitsugaya frowned as the temperature started to fall. It was not his Reiatsu that was causing the drop. Then, in the faint light of the Kidou orb in Hitsugaya's hand, the two Slytherins saw the appearance of a creature in the doorway. Hitsugaya and Zabini both stiffened at the sight. Zabini tensed in the recognition of the creature. Hitsugaya had tensed due to the distinctly Hollow feeling to the creature's Reiatsu. It wasn't a Hollow, but it was extremely similar.

It was in the moment that Hitsugaya was going to form a Kidou, that the man from before returned, disrupting Hitsugaya from his concentration. "You have no business here! Sirius Black is not among us. You have no need to be here, leave!"

The creature ignored him; instead it seemed to draw a rattling breath. Hitsugaya was instantly prepared to cast a Kidou, but a sudden pain assaulted him. It raged through him, he could feel his spirit form trying to rip from his gigai. Collapsing onto his knees and wrapping his arms securely around his chest, he gave a short cry of pain, trying to remain in his gigai. He finally succumbed to the pain when the creature drew another rattling breath. The last thing he saw before darkness took him was a startling white light.

Opening his eyes, Hitsugaya found himself in an icy cave, large and imposing. The mouth of the cave was blocked by all a wall of falling snow. The walls glowed from no obvious source.

Groaning, Hitsugaya sat up. _"Hyourinmaru?"_

The great ice dragon appeared in his vision, curling around him. "_Do you know what that was?"_

Hyourinmaru looked to be in pain. '_I have no knowledge of such a creature. Whatever that was it affects both a shinigami's soul and Zanpakutou. Be careful in the future if you ever encounter one of those abominations. It is a corrupted creature, but not completely a Hollow. It will shred a soul to shreds, destroying it, instead of devouring it like a Hollow is apt to do. That was the reason for your pain. Warn Kurosaki Ichigo, it is my belief that all spirits are affected.'_

Hitsugaya grunted his agreement. And sat upon a slab of unflawed ice, his legs folded beneath him and his arms tucked into his black kosode. He closed his eyes, waiting for when his conscious to be allowed back into awareness. The power of the creature had forced him into his inner world and now he couldn't leave.

As he sat, he felt Hyourinmaru approach and curl his larger form around his more diminutive one. He leaned into the icy side of the dragon and smiled minutely. The deep rumbles of the dragon's speech washed over him. _'Be careful, Toshirou. Those pills of yours have had an unexpected side effect. Forcing your spirit to age far more quickly than it would naturally in Soul Society, your Reiatsu is straining to keep up with the unnatural expansion of your spirit. You are not in any danger, but I do advise you to re-train your Reiatsu control. I know you have noticed that it has become harder for you to control your power, to use Kidou.'_

Hitsugaya nodded thoughtfully. He had, in fact, noticed that he had a harder time controlling his Reiatsu. He had given little thought to it previously as it had started off as a barely noticeable problem. However, now that he thought about it, his control was slowly getting worse. He would need to actively start restraining and controlling his Reiatsu if he didn't want to lose control completely.

As a powerful Shinigami, a Taichou no less, he had a tight control over his Reiatsu to the point that he didn't need to think about it. However, now his control was slipping due to the pill's side effect. He still would be able to control his Reiatsu, but he would need to resume Reiatsu control exercises similar to the ones he had Kurosaki perform.

He was lucky, however that the Limiter needed in the Living World helped with the control somewhat due to the sealing of a portion of his powers. The less Reiatsu accessible, the easier it was to learn control.

He suddenly frowned at that thought._ 'The less Reiatsu accessible… The easier it was to learn control…'_ Kurosaki still had trouble learning control over his Reiatsu due to lack of education in the past and the vast amount he had. He was a Fukutaichou now, however, and it was standard procedure for every Taichou and Fukutaichou going to the Living World to have a Limiter placed upon them. With a portion of his Reiatsu sealed, it should be easier for Kurosaki to learn to control his Reiatsu. When he first releases the Limiter, he would have trouble adjusting to the influx of power, but he would learn quickly, like the rest of them, to control it.

Hitsugaya sighed softly before opening his eyes. Perhaps it was a good thing that Kurosaki was a Fukutaichou now.

It was moments later that Hyourinmaru removed his coils from around Hitsugaya's form. _'This year will be no easier than the last years. Train hard, little one.'_

Hitsugaya nodded and closed his eyes once more. Leaving the inside of his mind, he returned to the real world. Of course, though, the first thing that registered was the pain that assaulted his head and chest. He opened his eyes blearily and wearily. He could hear whispered voices around him, but he had no clue where he was.

When his vision came into focus, he saw the worried faces of the older man and Zabini. Groaning softly, Hitsugaya say up, but clutched at his head when his vision swam from the sudden movement. The man rushed to help. "Be careful, Mr. Potter! You had a serious reaction to the Dementor! You shouldn't be moving yet. We'll bring you to the Hospital Wing once we reach Hogwarts."

Hitsugaya scowled and pushed the man away. "You will do no such thing! I am perfectly fine." He stood up from his position on the floor, hiding his unsteady balance, and sat down on one of the benches. "You have information on that creature?" It was an order not a question.

The man looked taken aback, but answered anyways. "Yes, it is called a Dementor and it, and its kind, usually guard the Wizarding prison Azkaban. However, with the recent escape of the dangerous criminal Sirius Black, the Ministry had ordered a group of these things to guard the school. Dementors feed on the emotions of humans, sucking all of the happiness out of the air. Those with a more severe past will relive their horrible experiences. I have never seen someone collapse in pain before, however."

Hitsugaya held back a snort. '_I'm sure you have never encountered a Shinigami before. You don't know the full extent of the thing's abilities.'_

Hitsugaya's eyes narrowed. "There is something else, isn't there?"

The man hesitated before nodding. "They have an ability called the Dementors Kiss. They use it to suck out the victim's soul and absorb it into themselves."

Zabini looked a little green, but Hitsugaya noted that he didn't look surprised. Frowning, he mused, '_Wizards have made conclusions only based on what they have seen. It is possible that the Dementors have other abilities that they do not use. Another cause for concern is their effect on Shinigami. They might turn out to be exceptionally more dangerous that I first guessed. Furthermore, the wizard's feeling of despair may be because of the creature's unique and decidedly Hollow-like Reiatsu, still it doesn't explain why some appear to relive horrible events. Though, it may just be one of the thing's abilities.'_

A hand suddenly appeared in front of his face and Hitsugaya, taken by surprise, lashed out to grab the offending appendage. A yelp of pain alerted him to the fact that he was gripping a little too hard. Relaxing his grip, he refocused on his surroundings. Zabini was rubbing his bruised wrist with a reproachful look. The man had an uncertain look upon his face.

"Care to introduce yourself? I am Harry Potter." He hid a look of disgust at the name and waited for the man to answer his question.

Blinking, the scarred man was slow to reply. But after an impatient glare from Hitsugaya, he was quick to answer. "Re-Remus Lupin. I'll be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year."

"Lupin-sensei, then."

Lupin interrupted, startled. "Sensei?"

Hitsugaya shot the professor a look at being interrupted. "I grew up in Japan. I would have thought that was obvious due to my decidedly Japanese accent rather than the English one you support."

The professor had the decency to blush. Zabini rolled his eyes however, "Many wouldn't recognize your accent, Potter. We're not all geniuses like you."

Hitsugaya only stood up and pulled his sweatshirt off, revealing his toned and scarred torso. Zabini blinked as the professor started to sputter. "Potter, what are you doing?"

"Changing into my robes. You should as well."

"With the professor still in the room?"

"He can leave if he is embarrassed. It does not bother me anymore."

A stuttered sentence caught their attention. "Ha-harry… H-how did you get those scars?"

Hitsugaya grimaced. Being a Shinigami, and a Taichou no less, did not come without its difficulties. Scars of all sizes littered his entire body, the worst one stretching over his shoulder from where Aizen had almost taken his life. He had not meant to show them to Lupin, but he forgot they were there at times, preferring to not think about them.

Pulling on his white school shirt, he started to button it as he replied. "Not everyone can live a pampered life as you seem to know. Where I grew up with my adopted sister and grandmother, there were gangs and monsters. Many liked to pick on me for my smaller stature and abnormally coloured hair. It can be a hard place to live, but I wouldn't trade it for anything else."

Lupin did not look to be completely placated, but he did not say anything else. For that, Hitsugaya was thankful.

But back to the present… Hitsugaya had to scowl. Why was it always him that attracted all the trouble? He always managed to stumble into something he rather never knew existed or trouble came searching for him. This time was no different. Some criminal by the name Sirius Black was on the loose, having escaped the Wizarding prison Azkaban. And, due to people's reaction to it, the man was after him. He would like to see the idiot try.

Still, a cause for concern was those Dementor creatures. If they were wandering about the school grounds, he would need to be careful to not have any run-ins with them. On another note, the new professor, Lupin, had a strange Reiatsu about him. It was not completely like a Wizard's, feeling tainted in some way. He would need to keep an eye on the man.

'_Someone is approaching.'_

Hitsugaya snapped out of his thoughts in time to see Kurosaki appear. The boy had a strange look upon his face. "I heard you collapsed on the train, Shirou."

Hitsugaya gave him a disdainful look. "I do not see how that is any of your concern, Kurosaki."

Ichigo finally lost it. "Stop this bullshit, Hitsugaya Toshirou! I tried giving you space, not bothering you like you wanted, but I can't do that anymore! Stop distancing yourself from me! Do you hate me that much? Are we not friends?"

Kurosaki's voice was pained at the end of his short tirade and Hitsugaya felt himself feeling guilty. He tried to reason with him. "You don't understand, Kurosaki. I – "

"Then help me understand, damnit!"

Hitsugaya pulled his knees tighter towards his chest. In a quiet voice, unable to hold himself back, Hitsugaya whispered. "I am afraid of being hurt, Kurosaki. I am afraid of losing my precious people, so I keep everyone away."

"But why do you put up with that Zabini kid? Why not me?"

Hitsugaya had no answer.

HP/B

The first month of school was nothing out of the ordinary for a Wizard school, unless you counted the number of Dementors that patrolled the grounds at night. Classes were attended, points were given and taken away, homework was done, and detentions were given. There was nothing out of the ordinary at all.

It was partway through October that Dumbledore made an announcement to the student body. In it, he mentioned that third years and older were allowed to go to the neighboring town, Hogsmead. They were only allowed, though, if the students' guardians had signed a permission slip. Those they would turn in the first allowed trip.

Kurosaki Isshin had signed his son's slip, believing he was going to a boarding school in Scotland, sponsored by Karakura High School. He was, in part, right. He just didn't know that it was a Wizarding boarding school and not sponsored by Ichigo's school.

Matsumoto had signed Hitsugaya's slip, pretending to be the adoptive grandmother that Hitsugaya had mentioned to Dumbledore. Matsumoto hadn't been particularly pleased about playing the role of an old granny, as she put it, but signed anyways, using an alias of course.

Hitsugaya wasn't particularly enthused about visiting the little village like the rest of the school seemed to be, but it would be nice to leave the castle and go somewhere new for once. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad.

But life has a way of making us regret our words.

HP/B

The first trip was on Halloween weekend. He never did see what humans saw in Halloween. It was just another day; there was no need for Holidays. Shinigami never received holidays. They were allowed breaks occasionally, but they couldn't just stop in their job. Holidays were pointless, and Halloween was no exception. What point was there in eating mountains of sweets and trying to scare one another?

Still, Hitsugaya found himself wandering Hogsmead with Zabini, the first stop having been Honeydukes. Hitsugaya had not been impressed and had been highly reluctant. "You do realize that getting candy is a pointless endeavor as the feast tonight will contain numerous sweets."

Blaise could only shake his head. This kid was something else. If it wasn't for the fact that he was one of the shortest in their year, and that he knew the boy's birthday, he would think he was dealing with an adult. He was too mature, even for a Slytherin, all who had to grow up too fast. "You don't get out much do you, Potter? Did your relatives even celebrate Halloween?"

As always, any mention of the kid's relations made him become rigid and cold, the air itself seemingly colder. "I wouldn't know. They _abandoned_ me when I was too young to remember. I grew up in Japan, remember?"

There was an almost indiscernible emphasis on 'abandoned'. Ah, yes, he did remember that now. Sometimes it was easily forgotten seeing as he had a remarkable grip on the English language, even though he did have a slight accent that was decidedly not British. Besides, he didn't usually pry into the kid's life. Usually, but not now that is. "Aren't you living with your relatives for a short period of time during the summer? I thought I heard that Kurosaki kid mention it."

Potter muttered something in Japanese before he answered Blaise. "Originally, my," There was the barest of pauses before he continued with, "adoptive grandfather, wanted me to live with them for a week before school began so that I could get used to living in England, because of the time difference, as well as some odd sort of revenge. I don't pretend to know what he is thinking. Then, Dumbledore-sensei wanted me to be there. Mentioned something about protection I think, but I don't even want to know how that man's mind works."

If they thought he was a kid, he may as well as indulge in a little childish complaining if he damn well pleased. As long as it was safely away from a certain well endowed fukutaichou, that is.

Blaise was confused by a sudden scowl that appeared on Potter's face. What was the kid thinking? Well, who cares? Now that he got the kid talking, maybe he could press for more answers. "I always wondered, and I hope you don't mind my asking, but how is it that Dumbledore didn't find you until recently, besides the fact that you were all the way in Japan? Aren't there tracking charms?"

Hitsugaya paused in his stop. Where were these questions coming from? And how to answer that? He couldn't very well say that no one could find him earlier because he was technically _dead._

"Shiranai…"

Blaise blinked. "Come again?"

"It's Japanese for 'I don't know'."

Zabini didn't reply and for that Hitsugaya was thankful. Instead, they continued to walk down the busy street. After a few moments of silence, Zabini spoke up. "Want to go visit the Shrieking Shack? It's a perfect opportunity since its Halloween. Supposedly the Shack is haunted, so the place is really run down. Some people are afraid to get near."

Hitsugaya blinked. "Haunted? Hogwarts could be considered haunted, but it defiantly is not run down."

Zabini frowned. "Violent ghosts maybe? Whatever is in there liked to scream and shriek I've heard."

Hitsugaya narrowed his eyes. "Ghosts are unable to interact with the material world." And that was true. Only spirits with an extremely high Reiatsu level could ever interact with the real world, not that they could be seen that is. Maybe he should check it out. "How long has it been haunted?"

Zabini looked a little confused at the sudden interest, but answered anyways. "Well, I'm not quite sure, but it has to have been a little over 20 years ago now, I think."

Hitsugaya couldn't help himself as he stumbled with shock, coming to an abrupt halt. "Twenty years?!" Usually it only took a few _months_ for a Hollow to form.

Zabini gave him a funny look. "The ghosts in Hogwarts have been there for years. Why are you so shocked about the ones in the Shack?"

Hitsugaya shook his head. "Let us go check this place out. I want to see it for myself."

It was official. Potter was a total enigma and liked to confuse him at every turn. Zabini could only sigh and lead the way, pondering on the kid's behavior.

HP/B

"Oi, Potter! We're not allowed in the actual building itself!"

Hitsugaya turned, fixing an icy glare on him. He watched as Zabini shivered subconsciously. "I want to see this ghost for myself." _'Though I don't feel any unusual Reiatsu coming from the building.'_

"The sign says 'no trespassing'!"

"Afraid, Zabini?"

"Stubborn idiot, that building does not look structurally sound!"

Hitsugaya frowned. "Fine." _'But I will come back later just to make sure.'_ Turning away, and looking past Zabini, Hitsugaya's gaze locked with that of a giant black dog. He narrowed his eyes. The mangy mutt had too high of a Reiatsu to be a normal dog. Raising his voice so the mutt could hear, he demanded, "What are you? Who are you?"

Blaise turned, startled, to look in the direction that Potter was. What he saw made him almost fall back in shock. It was a Grimm! He took a step back as the Grimm didn't move for the slightest second. It was as Potter took a step forward, though, that the Grimm quickly turned tail and ran. Potter took another step forward, but Blaise quickly grabbed his arm. "Don't, Potter! That thing is a creature called a Grimm. Stories go that once a person sees a Grimm, they will die shortly!"

Hitsugaya's frown deepened. "Impossible. Nothing like that exists."

Zabini did not look convinced.

HP/B

Hitsugaya had his arms crossed and he was staring up at the ceiling as bored as could be. He had arrived in class early as usual and was now waiting for the class to start. Kurosaki slid into his seat just as the bell rang, just as usual.

Their teacher then stepped into the room. He smiled at them all and spoke. "Now I wanted to take a small break from learning about the different dark creatures. There is a useful spell that I think you should all know about. I am teaching it to all my classes. It is called the Life Revealing spell. Not a very original name, but it describes the spell well. When cast with a specific name specified, you can see if a person is alive or dead. Very useful. It was originally devised as a spell to be used to see if someone is a vampire, though it has other uses."

Hitsugaya and Kurosaki exchanged looks. Something told them that this wasn't going to end well. Lupin smiled at Hitsugaya. "You don't mind do you, Mr. Potter, if I use you as an example."

Hitsugaya's eyes widened. "Sir, I don't really think that would be-"

Ichigo banged his head on the table as Lupin cast the spell. Nope, this definitely wasn't going to end well at all.

Hitsugaya sighed and resisted the urge to also bang his head on the desk before him. He watched as a slip of paper appeared in Lupin's hand. The professor read the paper aloud. "Harry James Potter. Deceased."

There were gasps around the room and Lupin's eyes widened. Hitsugaya scowled. He had remembered to bring that Kiokuchikan with him hadn't he?

Lupin pulled out his wand. "Are you a vampire, Mr. Potter?"

Hitsugaya scowled deeper and carefully pulled the Kiokuchikan out. "I am not a vampire."

"Then what are you, Mr. Potter, that this spell would label you as 'deceased'?"

Hitsugaya didn't say anything. He only raised the Kiokuchikan and clicked the button.

HP/B

Hitsugaya stepped forward. Lupin looked ready to step in, but Hitsugaya stopped him with a glare. The boggart glanced at him before transforming. It became a tall brown haired man with a cruel smirk. He wore white clothes and held a bundle in his hand. _"If it isn't little Hitsugaya Toshirou? I have a present for you."_

He threw the bundle forward, the black cloth shifted to reveal a young girl. She was bloody, her eyes open and glassy. Hitsugaya's eyes widened as he recognized the girl. "Momo!"

The man in white laughed. "_Yes, and I have another present for you."_

At that, Momo's form shifted to reveal an older teen, maybe around 17. His hair was bright orange. He was in the same shape as Momo had been. The students noticed that he had a striking resemblance to Ichigo Kurosaki, though the corpse on the floor looked a few years older.

Ichigo blinked at the Taichou. One of Shirou's greatest fears was Aizen killing Momo and _him_? He smiled slightly. Well, well. There was more to his little Taichou then the Shinigami let on.

Hitsugaya gave the boggart-Aizen one of his frostiest glares. He raised his wand, tightening his grip as his arm rose. "Riddikulus!"

The bloody form on the ground disappeared and boggart-Aizen was forced to change shape. When the boggart finished shifting, it revealed the same man, only this time he was weaker looking, wearing a plain yukata and possessed no Zanpakutou.

Hitsugaya gave a satisfied smirk, but no one but Ichigo understood what was so funny about it.

HP/B

Couldn't school go by just once without incident? It was a magic school, he could give it that, but he ended up in these situations far too often! And why was he in it this time? A vein throbbed in his forehead, his arms crossed over his torso. Oh, yes. It was Kurosaki's fault!

And what, you may just ask, is the situation? He, along with Kurosaki, Zabini, Weasley, and Granger, were packed into a room with an unconscious Snape, Lupin-sensei who was something called a werewolf apparently, a shapeshifter who took the form of a rat, and the Grimm from Hogsmead that just so happened to be his supposed godfather Sirius Black.

Easily falling into a role of being in charge, Hitsugaya demanded, "So, let me get this straight. While everyone believes that it was you, Black, that gave away the position of the Potter's to Voldemort, in actuality it was Pettigrew. He used to be your friend, but betrayed you and went to your enemy instead. Then, later framed you, letting you take all of the blame so that you wasted 12 years of your life. And, it's Pettigrew's fault that Voldemort was able to kill the Potter's, my parents, so that I was forced to live with the Dursleys. _Pettigrew being the reason I am dead!_" Hitsugaya was extremely displeases, shown in his faltering calmness. He, luckily, had the state of mind to utter the last sentence in Japanese, which he knew only Kurosaki and he knew.

Hitsugaya pulled out his wand, needing to keep up appearances, and cast a spell to incarcerate the rat. Hitsugaya turned to the others once he knew that the rat wouldn't be getting away. He had regained his calm, and all his years with knowledge as a Taichou came into play as he took control of the situation.

"I do not tolerate false punishment or betrayal. We will bring this situation to the attention of the Headmaster. Lupin and Black, can I trust you to keep an eye on Pettigrew so that he does not escape?" The two men could only nod numbly as Hitsugaya continued. "We cannot just leave Snape there. Granger! Can you levitate the man? He will only cause troubles if we try to wake him." The girl muttered a yes and Hitsugaya continued as he looked over at Kurosaki. "_You and I are going to have a talk after this._" And with that, he led them out of the Shrieking Shack.

Remus, and Sirius especially, could barely keep their minds on where they were going. Their thoughts were on Harry. Remus, having been the DADA teacher, had encountered Harry before then, and knew some of how the boy was like. It still shocked him even now how different the boy was from how he remembered the child when he was young. His actions, too, could lead one to think that he wasn't in any way related to James Potter, who was a prankster and full of energy, and Lily Potter nee Evans, who always seemed to be lead by her emotions. But this Harry was highly intelligent – a genius even – calm, far too mature for his age, cold, and a Slytherin. He wasn't sure what to do about the boy. Earlier in the year, Harry had come asking about a way to defeat the Dementors. He had taught him the Patronus Charm knowing the boy's reaction to the creatures. Still, though, they didn't seem any closer to each other like he had hoped, even after Harry had found out that he had been a friend of his parents. Harry was completely alien to him.

Sirius, on the other hand, was not so calm or analytical in his thoughts. For one, he was stuck on how his godson had white hair. _White_ hair! You couldn't blame him could you? His best friend had pitch black hair, and the little tyke known as Harry had black hair when he was little. Now, it was _white! _And, then, he was expecting an almost clone of James, but the kid was no way similar to his late friend. And the kid was a _Slytherin! _He shuddered to even think of it! But maybe he just needed to get to know the kid better. Yeah, maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought…

Blaise's thoughts were a tad dark and a little moody. How in the hell did Potter and he get into this situation in the first place? Oh, yes. It was the fault of the orange haired Gryffindor that went by the name Ichigo Kurosaki. It had started off where he had followed Potter that night. He had known that Potter made trips at night several nights a week. No one knew where he went, however. So, Blaise had decided that he would follow Potter.

He had followed the kid outside and towards the Great Lake. There, Potter had met up with Kurosaki. However, before anything of significant importance could happen, the Gryffindor's friends had shown up. Of course though, they had passed by his hiding spot and revealed him. The five of them had stood there awkwardly for a few moments before suddenly Weasley had taken off after a rat that had appeared. He was yelling something about 'Scabbers'.

The red head's two friends had taken off after him when a giant dog appeared, and dragged Ron into the Whomping Willow. Kurosaki, though, had grabbed onto Potter's wrist. Blaise had been content to let the Gryffindors deal with the problem. It was after curfew anyways. But, then, Kurosaki had dragged Potter into the situation and Blaise couldn't just leave the kid along with Gryffindors, and with the Grimm from that day in Hogsmead too no less.

So, he placed all the blame for their current predicament on Kurosaki for dragging Potter with him into the situation. Damn him!

However, just as they were leaving the secret passage under the Willow and making their way across the grounds, Lupin started convulsing. Granger, recognizing something, screamed, "It's the full moon! And he didn't take that potion, the Wolfsbane Potion! Get away, he's dangerous!"

Hitsugaya whipped around to see Lupin collapse in spasms, and Black to drop Pettigrew to run to the werewolf. Hitsugaya yelled out sharply, "Don't let Pettigrew get away!" It was too late; however, as Pettigrew transformed into a rat and ran off into the forest. Hitsugaya cursed and turned back to the almost totally transformed Sensei. "Get back, idiots! Get back to the castle while you still have a chance!"

It was no good, though as Lupin finished his transformation and saw the weak students as victims. Black transformed into his Grimm form, trying to hold off the enraged werewolf. Somehow, he was able to hold back the wolf, but only enough until he was injured. Thinking quickly, and paying no mind to his cover if only to save their lives, Hitsugaya shot a Kidou at the werewolf. "_Hadou Number 4, Byakurai!"_

The white blue of the Kidou pierced through the werewolf's hide, injuring it. With a howl of pain it sprinted off into the woods. Hitsugaya dropped his hand, breathing a little heavier. It was possible to cast a Kidou while in a gigai, but harder with the gigai's restrictive interference.

However, before they could do anything, Dementors were suddenly upon them. Weasley and Granger lost consciousness almost immediately due to the pressure of the creatures. Zabini held out longer, but was unable to last for long. All too soon he followed the first too into oblivion.

Kurosaki and Hitsugaya held fast against the pain that the Dementors were causing, all while trying to protect the fallen students and an unconscious Black who had retaken his human form. It wasn't long though, before the two Shinigami could no longer hold out against the vast number of Dementor that surrounded them. Before the two fell from the pain, however, Hitsugaya saw an approaching white light that started to drive away the Dementors. His last thought before darkness took him was, _'Hyourin…maru?'_

HP/B

Groggily, Ichigo opened his eyes. He had just been released from the prison of his mind. Bright white assaulted his eyes as he opened them. Blinking to clear his vision, he sat up with a small groan. Where was he? Turning his head he saw Shirou in the bed next to him, who gestured for to stay quiet. Confused, Ichigo followed the order.

It was then that he could hear a muffled conversation that seemed to be originating from outside the room's door. Was that Snape and Dumbledore speaking? Who was the third person?

"It's good that we caught the murderer, Headmaster. And I'm glad that the students were not harmed." It was the unknown speaker.

Snape's voice was irritated when he spoke. "There shouldn't have been Dementors on the grounds in the first place!"

"Yes, yes…" The voice was nervous. "It was necessary… We must thank you, though, Professor for capturing the criminal, Black. An Order of Merlin second class I think for you heroic actions."

Smugness entered the potion's master voice then. "We can't have a deranged killer on the loose now can we? Isn't that right, Minister?"

The unknown voice, now identified by being the Minister – of what Ichigo didn't know – seemed to gain some confidence. "Yes, of course! The Dementors should be giving Black the Kiss any moment!"

Ichigo didn't hear anything past that. He was too enraged by what he had heard. They were going to execute Black! The man was innocent! It didn't sit well with him, reminded him too much of the whole fiasco with Soul Society and Rukia. There had to be something they could do! He turned to Shirou, "_There must be something that we can do, Shirou!"_

"_That's Hitsugaya-taichou to you, Kurosaki-fukutaichou."_

Ichigo could not be deterred. "_Taichou! Please!"_

Hitsugaya's eyes widened and he made a small surprised noise. "_Kurosaki…"_

"_Isn't there anything we can do, Taichou? You know the man is innocent. I can't just sit back and let them execute him! I didn't do it with Rukia, and I won't do it here!"_

Silence reigned in the room they were in, the infirmary as Hitsugaya noticed. His eyes were wide and his mind had drawn a temporary blank. Quickly he regained his bearings, but it was not enough. _"I do not know what we can do, Kurosaki-fukutaichou. They believe the man to be a criminal, and they will take the words of a student lightly. There is not much we can do."_

It was then that the doors to the infirmary opened and Dumbledore stepped in. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Kurosaki… You shouldn't be awake yet. The Dementors affected you greatly."

"Dumbledore-sensei! That man is innocent! You have no right to execute him!"

The old man nodded with a serene smile. "Yes, I know."

Ichigo stopped short and blinked. "You… you believe me?"

"Yes… Now, a funny thing time is." He walked over to the still sleeping Hermione and took something from around her neck. "I don't think Ms. Granger will mind if we borrow this. Three turns should do the trick, and remember not to be seen."

With that, the man draped a chain around the necks of both Hitsugaya and Kurosaki, who were standing next to each other. Hitsugaya picked up the small hourglass on the end of the chain. "Dumbledore-sensei… What is this?"

The man just smiled, "Three turns…"

Deciding to humour the man, Hitsugaya turned the small hourglass three times. And, with that they were gone.

HP/B

In the end, Ichigo and Toshirou were able to save Sirius Black from the Dementor's Kiss. Hitsugaya, too, was able to save the group from the original timeline from the Dementors by using a powerful Patronus shaped like Hyourinmaru at the last second. This was all, of course, after they recovered from the shock of time travel.

The rest of the year passed and Ichigo liked to think that he and Shirou were that much closer. But still, on the train trip back to King's Cross station, Shirou and Ichigo rose in different compartments. Well, Ichigo mused, there was always the summer and the next year.

HP/B

_Ew… I don't like how this chapter turned out. Oh, well… It will have to do for now! Hope you enjoy the new chapter and don't forget to feed the starving review button!_


	9. IMPORTANT! Not an update

Hello everyone! I'm sorry to disappoint you, but this isn't an update… I would really like to apologize for that. I've just had a bunch of stuff happen and now I can't keep up with this stuff. I haven't been able for awhile… However, my friend SidheWitch has recently decided to adopt my story. So, if you would like to continue to read it then you can find it under the same title. She should have it up soon (if it isn't already)!


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